By IANS
New Delhi : Union power secretary Anil Razdan has protested the diversion of a portion of liquid natural gas (LNG) allocated to Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra for other purposes.
In a recent meeting with Petroleum Secretary M.S. Srinivasan, Razdan said that no portion of the gas allocated for power generation should be diverted for any other use, a source said.
Razdan said the northern and western regions were presently facing acute power shortages while power utility NTPC’s gas-based power plants remained hamstrung by fuel shortages.
The Dabhol power plant is unable to utilise the entire gas supply allocated to it by the government from Petronet LNG Ltd due to maintenance shutdown of one of its units for three months.
The power ministry had therefore asked for supplying the idle gas to state-owned electricity generator NTPC Ltd, which was unable to run most of its gas-based power plants at the rated capacities due to a supply shortage.
Government-run petroleum companies Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Gail India Ltd deliver allocated gas supply to the Dabhol power plant.
However, it now turns out that these government-nominated marketers are using unutilised gas for captive purposes or selling to their own customers, the source said.