By IANS
Patna : Railway Minister Lalu Prasad’s dream power project in Bihar’s Nabinagar has run into rough weather with the state government threatening to review its clearance on land and water.
The state government is irked by the central government’s decision to provide only 58 MW power to Bihar and 42 MW to neighbouring Jharkhand from the proposed 1,000 MW joint venture project of the Indian Railways and power utility major NTPC Ltd.
“The home state should get 10 percent share of the power as per the NTPC’s statutory provision. Bihar, therefore, deserves to get a minimum of 100 MW power from the proposed 1,000 MW captive power project at Nabinagar,” Bihar’s Energy Minister Bijendra Yadav said Thursday.
“The state government has the right to review its decision on land and water for the proposed power project if the state is deprived of its share of power,” he added.
Only two days ago, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in New Delhi to set up of Bharatiya Rail Bijlee Co Ltd (BRBC) at Nabinagar in Bihar.
The state government had already cleared allotment of 1,000 acres to the NTPC for the project. The government had also given approval for supply of water from Sone river for the project.
The railway minister has been taking keen interest in setting up the power project in his home state.
“The Nabinagar power plant, to be built at a cost of Rs.53.52 billion, will have 1,000 MW capacity. Ten percent of power from the plant will be given to other users,” Lalu Prasad said in New Delhi.
He said the venture was aimed at making the railways self-sufficient in electricity, which it needs to run trains.
The railway minister’s statement at the signing of the MoU Tuesday raised a few eyebrows in the state government.
His claim that the power project was a “historic achievement” of the UPA government was questioned by Bihar’s Energy Minister Bijendra Yadav.
“The MoU for the project was signed in Oct-Nov 2002 when Nitish Kumar was the railway minister in the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” Yadav pointed out.
The equity share of NTPC and Indian Railways will be 74 percent (Rs.18 billion) and 26 percent (Rs.4.17 billion), respectively.
The venture is expected to help the Indian Railways save approximately Rs.6 billion per annum.
The electricity from the plant would be utilised by the railways for running trains in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.