Two paces towards poll power promise - Calcutta Telegraph

Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Union power minister Piyush Goyal inaugurate the Barh plant on Saturday in the presence of other central ministers. Picture by Sachin

Patna, Nov. 15: Bihar took another step towards self-reliance in power generation today with minister of state for energy and coal (independent charge) Piyush Goyal inaugurating the commercial operation of two units, one each at Barh (660MW) and Muzaffarpur (110MW).

The state had wiped out the stigma of being a nil thermal power generation state after the first unit of 110MW at Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station (MTPS) came up on November 17 last year.

Today’s inauguration would help the state get 110MW from the second unit of MTPS, while 430MW would be available from Barh Super Thermal Power Station (BSTPS), built on supercritical technology by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).

Goyal, accompanied by chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and several Union ministers on the dais at Kanti and Barh, announced a timeframe for speedy completion of other units at Kanti and Barh, as the Centre has been tracking the progress of pending power projects across the country.

Barh plant is being built in two stages — 1,980MW in stage I and 1,320MW in stage II. There are five units, one each of 660MW, at the plant, implying generation of 3,300MW.

Iterating the Centre’s commitment to provide a 4,000MW ultra mega power project, Goyal, who also holds the coal portfolio, promised to allocate a coal block to the mega project. He also announced that the Centre would give its sanction to Dagmara hydel power project, stuck in files for several years.

The Centre is working on a plan to lay separate distribution feeders for agriculture across the country to provide dedicated power supply to farmers for irrigation, he said.

Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Radha Mohan Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Giriraj Singh, Ram Kripal Yadav, Upendra Kushwaha, who were present on the occasion, may have been vying with each other to cash in on the inauguration of the power plants. The names and photographs of all seven ministers were displayed on the banner while that of Nitish Kumar, who as a Union minister, played a pivotal role in bringing power plant at Barh, was missing.

Nitish represented Barh parliamentary constituency and was minister in the Vajpayee cabinet when he took initiative to bring a major power plant based on super critical technology to the state to propel growth.

The missing credit — intentional or unintentional — evoked a quick response from Nitish, who was busy interacting with party workers at Chhapra during his Sampark Yatra.

“Those who took pain for the project has found no mention while big-sized posters of BJP ministers having no contribution are splashing the venue,” Nitish said in his speech. “Hum to kaam karte hain aur naam ka lobh nahi karte hai (I believe in working and do not have greed for credit),” he said.

Taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nitish said it would have been proper if the plant had been inaugurated by Modi as a mark of respect to Vajpayee, who laid the foundation stone of the Barh NTPC unit.

Brushing aside JDU’s criticism, state BJP president Mangal Pandey said: The foundation of the NTPC Barh unit laid by Vajpayeeji has been completed by PM Narendra Modi.”