India to light up all villages by 2012: Shinde

Bolpur, Oct 26 (UNI) Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said all the villages in India would be electrified by 2012.

After laying the foundation stone for Kabiguru Industrial Training Centre here, Mr Shinde said during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, the country was annually generating 90,000 MW of power, while such a figure during the Tenth plan period was assessed at 56,000 MW.

He felt that the country still depended on coal and gas for generating power.

Mr Shinde also informed that after land would be taken up for building a power plant, the residents would be imparted training for employing them into the projects.

According to him, in case of hydro-power units, the affected area would be provided one per cent of the total power generated by the project.

Moreover, the family of an indidivual, from whom land had been taken, would be provided 100 units of power per month and the unutilised units could be later sold back to the grid at the end of a month, Mr Shinde elaborated.

The Kabiguru Industrial Training Centre would come up at Paruldanga near here, which is also the constituency of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

''After Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, Mr Chatterjee is our pride. Our country needs leaders like him and he is like our father figure. Each MP should emulate Mr Chatterjee in bringing development in one's constituency,'' Mr Shinde said.

''Bolpur is next to Hardwar and Trichirapalli in getting the BHEL-run institute in the country. The country's asset lies in the merit of the students. Our scientists have proved that we can even venture into a lunar expedition if they are exposed to proper technical inputs,'' Mr Chatterjee said.

The entire cost for setting up the institute was pegged at Rs 22 crore and the entire cost would be jointly borne by DVC, BHEL and NTPC, Union Minister for Heavy Industries Sontosh Mohan Dev said.

The Kabiguru Industrial Training Centre was expected to be operational in the next three years while the first phase would be completed within ten months, Mr Dev said.

He added that a land area of five acres had been sanctioned by Sriniketan Santinikean Development Authority in this regard.

The institute would provide training in 13 subjects, including medicine electronics and plumbing, he stated.

West Bengal Power Minister Mrinal Banerjee was among others present on the occasion.

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