Officials told to act on Hindujas

Visakhapatnam: Chairman of the AP Legislative Council’s Committee on Government Assurances T.G.V. Krishna Reddy directed the GVMC Commissioner M.V. Satyanarayana and district collector V. Seshadri to initiate action against the Hindujas who allegedly finished 60 per cent of construction work of the proposed coal-based thermal power plant at Palavalasa without obtaining No Objection Certificate from the civic authorities.
The power plant is being set up by the Hinduja National Power Corporation Limited (HNPCL) and was allotted 1,123 acres land in Dewada and Palavalasa villages near Gajuwaka in 1999 to set up a 1,084 MW coal-based thermal power plant.
As per the agreement with the state government signed in 2008, the HNPCL had to complete the project within five years, failing which the power purchase agreement would  be cancelled.
Hindujas failed to complete the project as per the agreement and   approached the government to revive the land lease period for five more years. Since then HNPCL has been seeking extensions and the government has been considering it. But in March 2011, contrary to the rulebook, even as the application for the NOC remains pending with the GVMC, HNPCL started construction work to get the plant operational by September 2013.
According to sources, 60 per cent of the fabrication and erection work and 40 per cent of the civil work are complete.
The chairman of the committee on government assurances who viewed it as a serious violation directed the officials to take appropriate action against the company. He directed the officials to follow guidelines of the government properly not going by hefty relaxations.