Sujay Mehdudia

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.

Though the state power minister, Mr Mrinal Banerjee today informed the House that by 2014, capacity of the generating stations will be enhanced by 3990 MW, his earlier promise of enhancing capacity is yet to be fulfilled. In 2006, the minister had stated in the house that the capacity of the generating stations under West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) would be enhanced by 1570 MW in 2007. But, the capacity will be enhanced by 900 MW.

ANDAL/MEJIA - Union minister of state for power, Mr Jayram Ramesh faced the land losers' ire twice in Andal, Burdwan and Mejia, Bankura while visiting the DVC power plants today. The land losers demanded immediate absorption against loss of their cultivable land which they had "sacrificed' for the DVC's plants. Mr Ramesh later met the their delegates in Mejia and assured help to them. n SNS

coastal campaign: The National Fishworker's Forum began a two-month campaign in Gujarat to draw public attention to the centre's move to dilute Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 1991, and

The Ministry of Power is considering two options including the proposal to construct a bridge over Brahmaputra river connecting Sadiya and Dhola in Assam, as part of the Dibang Multi-purpose Hydroelectric Project. The Ministry of Power has submitted a proposal to the Public Investment Board (PIB) for the Dibang Project in Arunachal Pradesh indicating two alternatives, said Minister DoNER, Mani Shankar Aiyar in a Lok Sabha reply to a question by Dr Arun Kumar Sarma. The first alternative covers external roads and bridges including construction of a bridge over Brahmaputra river.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has appealed to the power ministry to grant letter of awards (LoAs) for coal linkages to large size thermal projects due to be commissioned during the first two years of the 12th plan. CEA has argued that an early issuance of LoA would ensure timely coal linkages and thereby commissioning of projects as per the time schedule.

Come summer and most of the States in the country go through a period of power cuts or unscheduled load shedding to bridge the gap between peak demand and supply. The targets for power generation during the last two five-year Plans have just not been met, and the chasm between power generation and demand has widened. A booming economy has led to increased power consumption and a higher peak hour demand. The offer of free power to the agriculture sector and a populist subsidy for domestic consumers have ensured that the demand for electricity from two large sections of users can only rise.

Shortage of coal supply to power stations could make electricity supply situation worse this summer. "The coal supply position to thermal power stations in the country is not comfortable,' Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh told the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

The country is facing a power crisis.

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