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Journalism of Courage
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the Shimla district administration,including the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police,to take steps to maintain law and order at the sites of two private hydroelectric projects at Rohru.
Both sites have seen local protests with villagers threatening to damage the machinery. The court,however,told the DC and the SP that there should be no interference in peaceful public protests.
A division bench of Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice V K Sharma passed the order on a petition by M/s Tangu Romai Power Generation Company,which is executing both projects,about 170 km from Shimla.
The court also issued notices to the gram panchayats of Tangu Janglikh,Pekha,Deudi-Maila and Mahila Mandal Ambot,asking them to explain the reason for their opposition.
It issued separate directions also to Rohrus subdivisional magistrate and the Deputy SP for maintaining law and order. If the company requests any police assistance,the court ruled,it should be granted this,at its expense.
The two projects are being set up at an estimated Rs 300 crore. One of them,with a capacity of 6MW,is scheduled for commissioning in March 2012 while the other,44 MW,is scheduled for June 2014.
The company had alleged difficulties in implementation of the hydel projects due to stiff public resistance. It said it had got techno-economic clearance from the state electricity board,statutory clearance from the state pollution control board and the Environment Ministry,and no-objection certificate. But with villagers of Janglik and Maila preventing the movement of machinery,it said,work has not been started and this has resulted in losses.
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