Raigarh Project (Jindal)
| Part of the Global Coal Plant Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project. |
| Related coal trackers: |
Raigarh Project (Jindal) is a cancelled power station in Lohakhan, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Raigarh Project (Jindal) | Lohakhan, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India | 21.898611, 83.464722 (approximate) |
The map below shows the approximate location of the power station.
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology |
|---|---|---|---|
| cancelled | coal: unknown | 1320 | supercritical |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Owner | Parent |
|---|---|
| Jindal Steel & Power Ltd [100%] | Jindal Steel & Power Ltd [100.0%] |
Project-level coal details
- Coal source(s): Mand - Raigarh coal fields (expected)
Financing
Source of financing:
Background
The project is sponsored by Jindal India Thermal Power, which has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding and subsequently an Implementation Agreement with the government of Chhattisgarh in connection with the project. In addition, the company has received an in-principle approval for the acquisition of land from the Chhattisgarh government and has made an application to the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) for acquisition of 1,045 acres of land. The company has received a water allocation for the project, received approval for chimney height from the Airports Authority of India, and applied to the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) for a transmission linkage.[1]
The Ministry of Environment and Forests has issued Terms of Reference (ToR), and the draft report of the environmental assessment study for the project has been filed with the SIPB.[1]
In 2012 Jindal said it was in the process of expanding the capacity of the Raigarh plant from 3 to 7 million tonnes of coal per year, at an investment of Rs 17,000-18,000 crore.[2]
However, as of September 2016 the project has yet to receive environmental clearance, and plans appear to be deferred or abandoned.
Opposition
There was public hearings for the project on January 5, 2008 and September 25, 2013, the latter of which drew a crowd of over 4,000 village residents. Residents expressed concerns about pollution from the power station, and said project sponsor Jindal was trying to bribe locals by building a school, a hospital, and a college in the area. According to the website Down to Earth: "In the past five years, violence against the activists and residents opposing JSPL project dampened the morale of people." One person was shot.[3]
In June 2010, a local environmental group, Jan Chetana, wrote a series of letters to the union minister of environment, Jairam Ramesh. The letters brought to the attention that the Raigarh power plant was starting construction, without environmental clearances. The construction was called to a stop.[4]
On February 20, 2012, the National Green Tribunal called the first hearing on the Raigarh power plant a “farce,” rejecting the findings of the hearings. It was also held in Khamariya, which is far from the Gare village where the power plant will mainly be constructed, deterring affected people from attending.[5]
For 16 days until September 5, 2017, hundreds of activists from the village of Adivasi in Kosampali, Chhattisgarh protested against the Raigarh coal plant in a sit-in, with many starving themselves. The protestors want the coal plant production to stop, citing a lack of compensation and jobs for the acquisition of the coal plant land. The South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), one of the owners of the Raigarh plant, yielded on September 6, promising workers at least 100 contract jobs.[6]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Under Development: Raigarh Project," Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd. website, accessed February 2012
- ↑ "Jindal Steel and Power Limited to raise capacity of Raigarh plant," Jagran Post, Aug 6, 2012.
- ↑ Alok Gupta, "Public hearing for Jindal coal project in Raigarh held amid protests," Down to Earth, Sep 27, 2013.
- ↑ “Government rejects Jindal Power project”, The Economic Times India, June 25, 2010.
- ↑ “Green nod to Jindal mine nixed”, Down to Earth, May 15, 2012.
- ↑ “A Successful Protest Against a Chhattisgarh Mine Highlights the Failure of India’s Coal Auctions”, The Wire India, September 10, 2017.
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
