Prominent persons opposed the setting up of a coal-based thermal plant at Chamalapur near Mysore on Thursday and appealed to KERC to constitute an expert committee to study the inefficiency of the energy sector. They urged KERC to ask the government not to take up a thermal power project anywhere in the state until Committee submits its report. Maj Gen S G Vombatkere, President of Mysore Grahakara Parishat which has launched a movement against Chamalapur project here, said the existing infrastructure in power sector is being inefficiently used. An expert on power, Shankar Sharma, said coal-fired power stations need enormous quantities of land and fresh water which would have a disastrous social and environmental impact.