Tata Power Company has announced a Rs 300-crore relief and rehabilitation package for the 500 families affected by the 1,600 MW thermal coal power plant, coming up at Dehrand and Shahpur village near Alibaug.

The total land requirement for the project is 1,140 acres and till date the company has managed to acquire about 595 acres from the farmers. The remaining land is yet to be acquired.

The company has entered into an agreement with Maharashtra Government for providing the package. Under the package, every affected family will get Rs 15 lakh compensation for an acre. It will also provide one permanent job to each of the affected families and will also arrange for the education of the eligible family members.

The company will also bear a one-time cost of Rs 4 crore for upgrading the civic infrastructure in the two villages, after that it will spend Rs 25 lakh a year for each village

Executive Director of the company, Mr S Padmanabhan addressing the media said that the total project cost is estimated to be about Rs 9,000 crore. The plant will run on low sulphur coal imported from Indonesia, for which a coal jetty will have to be built in the Dharamtar creek. All the necessary clearances have been obtained for the project including the environmental clearance, he said.

Without disclosing the project timelines, Mr Padmanabhan said that the once the land is fully acquired it will take four years to get the plant operational.

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