HYDERABAD: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) has expressed shock at the recommendation of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) to rescind the 'stop work' order issued by the MOEF in respect of the East Coast Energy Pvt Ltd at Kakarapalli in Santhabommali mandal in Srikakulam district.In a statement here on Monday, HRF general secretaries VS Krishna and KV Jagannadha Rao described the recommendation of the EAC as 'brazen injustice'.After the police firing on Feb 28 resulted in the death of two farmers, the MOEF had issued a directive suspending ongoing work of the ECEPL's 2,640 mw thermal plant in Naupada wetland and referred the matter to the EAC.The HRF leaders said that EAC's minutes do not say a word about the precious wetland that this project is sought to be constructed on. It is a fact that EAC's own sub-group had stated in November 2008 that the project must not come up in the area."We recall MOEF minister Jairam Ramesh's statement in Parliament following the police firing that ECEPL project is indeed located in a wetland and that the government has the constitutional responsibility to protect and nourish wetlands. But the EAC' recommendation mocks at this mandate," they said.The EAC had accepted the falsified reports and arguments of the project proponent as well those of the state government officials who are in open collusion with the ECEPL.They demanded that the MOEF should be restrained from allowing the ECEPL to restart the work at the site. "Accepting the EAC recommendation would be nothing but jettisoning its constitutional obligations," they said.
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