Athena Chhattisgarh power station

The Athena Chhattisgarh power station is a 1200 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant under construction in Bade Dumarpali, Kharsia, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India. It is also referred to as the Singhitarai Thermal Power Plant.

Location
The satellite photo below shows construction activity at the site

Background
The Athena Chhattisgarh power station is a proposed 1200 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Bade Dumarpali, Kharsia, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India. On January 15, 2009, a public hearing was held under the authority of the Additional District Magistrate, Janjgir-Champa. At the hearing, members of the group Jan Chetana pointed out that the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the plant required that a study cover an area of 10 km radius around the proposed site, but that the study actually only included an area of 7 km radius, thereby excluding the village of Singhitari. Based on this evidence, the Additional District Magistrate cancelled the public hearing. However, in August 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry approved the project, clearing the way for construction. At this point, Ramest Agrawal, with help from lawyers with the Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment (LIFE) challenged the clearance before the National Environmental Appellate Authority (NEAA). As a result, in November 2009 the NEAA issued a one-page order stating that the proceedings of the public hearing did not have any validity. The NEAA then quashed the environmental clearance for the project on March 8, 2010. On April 5, 2010, the public hearings were held again 25-30 km away from the project site, and only 10-15 villagers were able to attend. On June 4, 2010, the project received Environmental Clearance.

Project Details
Sponsor: Athena Chhattisgarh Power Limited Location: Bade Dumarpali, Kharsia, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India Coordinates: 21.9067649, 83.1290013 Status: Construction Nameplate capacity: 1200 MW Type: Projected in service: 2014 Coal Type: Coal Source: Estimated annual CO2: 	7,096,441 tons Source of financing:

Citizen groups

 * Jan Chetana

Related SourceWatch articles

 * India and coal
 * Proposed coal plants in India