Environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh continues to go his own way despite directives from the prime minister's office (PMO): he has asked Madhya Pradesh to submit a detailed resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) plan for further environmental clearance for the Maheshwar hydro-electric project.

It was only last month that the PMO had to intervene and lift the ban imposed by Ramesh's ministry on the construction work for the 400 MW project.

But the ministry has rejected the R&R details furnished by the state government last month on the grounds that they are insufficient and do not answer the issues raised by it (the ministry) while stopping the construction of the dam for installing 10 units of 40 MW each, a ministry source said.

In a letter to the Madhya Pradesh chief secretary, the ministry has sought a proper and full R&R plan prepared expeditiously for further necessary action. It says the project-affected people must get due compensation as stipulated in the  environmental clearance given earlier.

The letter also indicates that the ministry will give clearance for further construction only after consulting the concerned stake holders, meaning the affected people and the NGOs agitating on their behalf.

"We want to upload the R&R plan on the ministry's website for the benefit of all stake holders and also put in place a detailed monitoring mechanism," the letter said.

The ministry has stressed that the R&R plan should clearly indicate the nature and extent of work based on the backwater contours as suggested by the Central Water Commission.

It has also stressed that the R&R has to be completed six months ahead of submergence from any further construction as specified in the environment clearance letter. It has also sought quantitative analysis of construction work vis-a-vis environmental measures, including R&R.

The ministry had stopped construction of the project in April. It said R&R work was negligible, agricultural land was not identified for resettlement, two new wildlife were not created as agreed, and it had not received the backwater level calculation report from the CWC.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan then protested to prime minister Manmohan Singh against the ministry's 'activism', but Ramesh sabotaged the clearance by pointing out irregularities of the project
authorities.

The PMO held two meeting after the CM's protest -- on May 10, when it relied on the CWC's technical opinion and deviating from the MoEF stoppage order, allowed construction to go on at seven gates, and on May 17, when Madhya Pradesh, based on details it submitted on May 13, tried to expland the scope of the permission beyond the seven gates.

The Maheshwar project is one of the 30-odd major dams coming up on the Narmada river.