Another Sompeta in the offing?Govt On Alert As Six Private Players Keen To Set Up Power Plants In Nellore

HYDERABAD: The state government is on the tenterhooks after the Nellore district administration sent strong warning signals about a possible repeat of incidents similar to the one witnessed in Sompeta mandal of Srikakulam district where local people launched a violent protest against the construction of a thermal power plant.
What has been worrying the state government is that as many as six private players are keen to set up thermal power projects in a radius of 20 to 30 km around the Krishnapatnam port.The new proposals involve acquisition of 2,414 acres for setting up the plants with an installed capacity of 5,190 MW.
Strangely, a majority of the requests for setting up these thermal power plants have come this year, and that too in the past one month. Krishnapatnam port is situated at a distance of 24 km from Nellore city of Nellore district and is around 200 km north of Chennai.
Nellore district is home to eight thermal power projects that are in various stages of execution, for which 10,720 acre have already been acquired from farmers. The existing installed capacity of the ongoing projects is 16,620 MW and are coming up with an investment of Rs 57,050 crore.
Two months ago, the green fields of Beela in Sompeta mandal of Srikakulam district turned into a battlefield after an uprising against the setting up of a 1,980-MW private power plant amid lush greenery and in the midst of a population of about 1.5 lakh.
Sources said the Nellore district administration had sounded a high alert after learning about local public representatives being pressurized by farmers to fight fresh land acquisitions tooth and nail. The administration also referred to the role played by environmentalists, human rights activists and political parties in creating awareness among the local people about the impending ecological disaster due to these new projects.
Sources said the district administration urged the state government to "review the necessity and suitability of acquiring and allotting 2,414 acres by APIIC for setting up new thermal power plants" in the wake of unsavoury incidents that invited nation-wide criticism.
Government sources said the intelligence agencies too have begun taking stock of the situation in Nellore district following APIIC's proposal to acquire land for the six new thermal power projects.