National   

Power projects ‘commissioned’ only in name: internal study

NEW DELHI: The matter of commissioning of power projects has assumed “serious dimensions” as an internal study done by the Ministry of Power has revealed that out of the 6620 MW of coal-based capacity projects that were officially declared as “commissioned” during 2007-08, nearly 58 per cent of them are still not producing even a single unit of energy making a mockery of the whole process.

This includes major power projects, including those that have been officially declared commissioned by Union Power Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde and dedicated to the nation with the claim that it would help in easing power crisis.

Officials said that if these projects had been producing the power they were supposed to, the power crisis faced by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and even some northern States could have been eased.

Around 4000 MW of power is involved in this “commissioning scam”, a senior official said.

For instance, the 500 MW Bellary power project in Karnataka was officially “commissioned” in December 2007 but is not producing a single unit of power till date. The 210 MW Bakeshwar project in West Bengal was commissioned in December 2007 but has yet not begun generating power. The 250 MW Raigarh power project in Chhattisgarh was “commissioned” in March 2008 but has yet not started commercial production. The 500 MW Birsinghpur project in Madhya Pradesh was officially commissioned in June 2007 but has yet not commenced production.

The 500 MW Sipat power project unit 4 was commissioned in May 2007 but began production in June 2008 after the intervention of Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh.

Similarly, the 500 MW Kahalgaon unit 6 was declared commissioned in March 2008 but has yet not started generating power.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Three more bombs defused in Surat
It was Sushma’s personal view: BJP
Serious charge: Congress
I won’t join Cabinet: Mulayam
“20,000 MW nuclear power by 2020 if deal gets through”
Hoax e-mail: cyber cafe owner remanded
EPFO move to ‘give’ workers’ money to private firms decried
Court fiat to doctors
Arunkumar Bhatt passes away
Power projects ‘commissioned’ only in name: internal study
Mumbai student tops PE-II exam
‘Policemen lack cutting edge to tackle terrorism’
Story had loose ends, says TV channel
Congress defends EPFO decision

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu