Chhattisgarh wants cheap power from Mega Project

Raipur, Feb 13: The Chhattisgarh government is not keen on setting up of ultra mega power project (UMPP) unless the state gets a share of 7.5 per cent of power produced at actual production cost, Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh said.

''We have no plans to change our existing policy for setting up the Ultra Mega Power Project'', he told UNI here.

Dr Singh described as ''baseless'' the opposition Congress charge that the state government was deliberately creating hurdles in the way for setting up of UMPP with a generation capacity of 4000 MW, demanding free power from the proposed project.

''We cannot change our policy, even if the proposed UMPP is shifted outside the state'', he said, adding the project could be implemented only after an assurance that the state would be supplied 7.5 per cent of power produced at actual production cost.

Dr Singh said his government would prefer setting up of power projects by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) rather than such UMPP. ''NTPC is in the process of increasing the capacity of its Sipat plant to 4000 MW while the public sector company has expressed its interest to set up another 4000 MW power plant'', he said, adding that efforts were being made to locate suitable land for the purpose.

The Ultra Mega Power Projects has been drawn up by the Union Ministry of Power, by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC). The plan envisages seven big projects, each one with a capacity of 4000 MW.

The seven proposed mega projects are to be located in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.

Rejecting the opposition demand for a white paper on the energy scenario in the state, the Chief Minister said the present crisis was due to the centre's decision to curtail allocation of power to the state. ''Hence, the centre should publish a white paper on the situation'', he added. He said the centre had reduced allocation of 288 MW from the state's unallocated quota last year but the Congress was trying to politicise the situation by levelling baseless charges against the state government.

Pointing out that his government has initiated concrete steps during the last three years for a capacity addition of 10,000 MW, he said the state had made tremendous progress in energising irrigation pumps, providing single point connections and rural electrification.

Stating that the demand for power has increased over the years, he said the state would get an additional 500 MW of power with the commissioning of two plants of state electricity board by Deepawali this year. Besides, the state will also get 300 MW power from the Sipat power project of NTPC.

About the Congress criticism that the BJP government had recommended granting of mining lease to those who did not own any industrial unit and even traders, the Chief Minister said 'total transparency' had been maintained in allocation of mines. ''Infact, iron ore traders were granted mining lease during the Congress regime'', he alleged.

Dr Singh said 60 per cent of the state's iron ore mines were with the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) while the lease of ten per cent were with the Steel Authority of India Limited(SAIL).

The lease of remaining 30 per cent are with Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) and industries, he added.

For the first time, he said, the state government had been successful in motivating the NMDC -- which had almost monopoly so far -- to form a joint venture company with Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) so as to make raw materials available for industries within the state.

UNI