Summary:
Kolkata, Aug 10 (PTI) Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has pulled itself out of the proposed Khagra-Joydev coal block project in West Bengal as it was not able to acquire required land for the same, an official said on Wednesday.
The power utility has surrendered the block to the Centre, he said.
Around 4,100 acre of land was required for the project at Dubrajpur in Birbhum district and of which, 3,500 acre was supposed to be acquired directly from the villagers, the official said.
"But DVC failed to make any progress in this regard even though the land price was revised to Rs 35 lakh per acre.
"We did not have any alternative option but to surrender the block.
A window for surrender of non-operational blocks was offered by the Centre and it came to an end on August 9.
Repeated letters to the West Bengal government for active support in land acquisition failed to evoke a positive outcome.
There was no land acquisition," a senior official privy to the development told PTI.
A query sent to a top state government official remained unanswered.
The Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal is against any forcible land acquisition, and the state is also facing protests over land acquisition for its mega mining project--Deocha Pachami coal block, also in Birbhum.
"The Union government had issued us several show cause notices for not being able to make any progress for the mine offered to us since 2015.
We could have faced a fine in future if we had not opted for the window to surrender the block.
It was executed last week," the official said.
The block was offered to DVC for captive mining for two thermal power plants, Mejia units--7 and 8 of 500 MW each.
It was supposed to have a peak annual output of 3 million tonne per annum.
"A special purpose vehicle was created, and mine developer cum operator (MDO) was also appointed.