Published: Monday, Oct 11, 2010, 1:39 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sushil-kumar-shinde-takes-on-jairam-ramesh-for-blocking-projects_1450825
After civil aviation minister Praful Patel locked horns with environment minister Jairam Ramesh over the Navi Mumbai airport project, another Maharashtra minister looks to be on collision course with the minister.
Power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has charged Ramesh with blocking projects in the country and, thus, hindering efforts to meet the power generation target fixed by the prime minister.
Ramesh’s ministry is sitting on as many as 39 hydel and thermal project proposals since April 2009. Also, there has been no movement on 82 other power projects in both public and private sectors for more than a year. The terms of reference (ToR) of these proposals were submitted to the environment ministry in April last year.
To make matters worse, Ramesh has threatened to put on hold 377 hydel projects, which have already received the “final clearance” from the environment ministry. This includes nearly 100 small and medium hydro-power projects in Arunachal Pradesh. Trouble is also brewing in Uttaranchal, where the ministry wants to reject a number of projects.
Some of these clearances were given either by his predecessor TR Baalu or came to the ministry prior to April 2009.
It is learnt that Shinde senses a conspiracy in Ramesh’s cancellation drive. He feels it is aimed at projecting him as a failure as a power minister.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has summoned a high-level meeting of half a dozen central ministers on October 13 to sort out problems relating to the environment ministry once and for all even as Shinde’s patience seems to be running out. Without naming the environment minister, Shinde said that once a project’s implementation begins, it cannot be stopped on anyone’s whims and fancies.
Last week, he had publicly rejected Ramesh’s intention to review even the earlier projects where work has already begun. Shinde had to abandon the NTPC project on river Bhagirathi after spending Rs600 crore on it.
