LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Palamu, July 2: Social activist Pankaj Kumar Yadav has written a letter to Palamu and Garhwa DC accusing the Aditya Birla Group of changing the course of the Koyal river and exploiting the water source by digging a pond in the river. In his letter, Pankaj Yadav has requested the Deputy Commissioner of Palamu and Garhwa to take cognizance of the matter. He said that the Center for RTI is an organization working against corruption in the state. “In view of a public interest litigation, I have got the Jharkhand High Court to pass an order to stop illegal mining in Palamu division”.
At present there is a complete ban on illegal mining and transportation in the Palamu division. Despite this Aditya Birla Group (ABCL) Grasim Industries Rehla is operating its power plant and company by exploiting water from Koyal river on a large scale. Grasim Industries (ABCL) Rehla first diverted all the water to its intake well by diverting the natural stream of the river from Darmi-Nawadih in the Garhwa district by installing poklen machine, and when the water of the stream also dried up, the underground water of the river is being exploited on a large scale by digging deep ponds. Water is being supplied to the power plant through pipes of about 2.5 to 3 feet diameter in the water lifting system installed by the Aditya Birla Company on the banks of the Koyal river in Rehla.
In this way, lakhs of cubic meters of water is being carried by the company by changing the natural course of the river one-way and damaging about 150 acres of river bed. In this way, the company is playing with the natural environment of the river on a large scale and by diverting the natural current of the river, the company is using this water to run its two power plants of 25 MW each. Pankaj said that he will soon file a petition in the court regarding this.
