MoEF clears power plant near Mundra,with riders

Earlier,the company gave in writing its commitment to safeguarding the environmental concerns of the protesters — local fishermen,farmers and green activists. The conditions were framed accordingly. To check air pollution,the company must use Indian coal along with a blend of Indonesian coal in a 70:30 ratio and ensure that the sulphur content does not exceed one per cent in the emission.

The company will also have to earmark Rs 108 crore for environmental activities linked with corporate social responsibility initiatives. It will set up school buses,fish drying facilities,dispensary and even a stitching project to give employment opportunities.

“During the last hearing,the company said it would adopt the fishing village and provide all sorts of amenities aimed at better livelihood,” said a senior ministry official.

Tthe company must also get the shoreline monitored by a reputed scientific agency every six months during construction and also after operation. The report on the health of the shoreline will have to submitted to the ministry.

The panel also inserted a condition prescribing how the plant’s cooling system needs to be designed so that the temperature around it does not increase by three degrees Celsius.

Fishermen,salt pan workers and farmers of the Mundra coast have been opposing the project ever since its inception,citing harm to their livelihood.