Farmers of two Katwa mouzas refused to give land for the proposed 3,000-MW super thermal power station at the home district of industry minister Mr Nirupam Sen today. A group of 12 farmers from the Srikhanda and Debkundu mouzas in Katwa went to the office of the ADM (Land Acquisition), Burdwan, and registered their protest against land acquisition by the state government. The state intends to acquire 1,033 acres of farmland in villages surrounding Srikhanda, Katwa to help set up a thermal power project by the West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL). n SNS

Pranbihanga Borpuzari The Delhi government-owned Indraprastha Power Generation Co Ltd (IPGCL) will set up a 2,000 mw coal fired power station in Mara-II Mahan coal block in MP. Centre has allotted Mara-Mahan coal block jointly to Delhi and Haryana governments. However, soon after the allotment IPGCL was in a fix as it was already in a mode to phase out all its coal plants in Delhi and did not need coal for power generation.

Naveen Jindal-promoted Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) plans to build a Rs 5,000-crore thermal power plant in Orissa, a company official said. The company plans to build a 1,080-mw, coal-fired captive power plant to fuel its 6-million tonne (mt), proposed Orissa steel plant, Sushil Maroo, wholetime director, JSPL, said. About 70-80 per cent equity worth over Rs 4,000 crore will be raised through debt and the company has already approached a consortium of banks, said an executive of JSPL.

Pranbihanga Borpuzari Coal prices will go up by Rs 300-400 per tonne, as the government has made it mandatory for all coal produced in the country to be washed by the producers. The higher price would mean more input costs for thermal power Companies and the railways. This is expected to add to the price of electricity. This follows the government's decision to make it mandatory for all coal produced in the country to be washed, will now mean spending about Rs 1,500 crore to wash coal and about Rs 4,000-6,000 crore to set up such washeries.

While the government talks about saving prime agricultural land from industry, a pitched battle between Alphonso growers and a power project developer is raging in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district. The environment ministry has cleared a 1,200MW thermal power plant by JSW Energy Limited in the heart of the famous mango-exporting belt despite admitting that the studies to understand the impact of pollution from the thermal plant do not exist yet.

Paving the way for Reliance Power, NTPC and three other companies to rebid for projects, the Uttar Pradesh power regulator has allowed the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation (UPPCL) to seek fresh financial bids for proposed power plants at Bara and Karchhana in Allahabad district. Jindal Steel and Power, JSW Energy and CESC are the other firms that can also submit their revised bids for the two thermal power projects. "All the eligible bidders have been asked to submit their revised financial bids by June 13," sources added.

The State Government has decided to enhance its thermal power generation capacity to avoid the power crisis in the lean period faced by the State almost every year. Dispur feels that more thermal power is required for maintaining the "uniformity in power supply' in the State throughout the year.

A two-and-a-half-year long fight has resulted in victory for Chhattisgarh villagers. The Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (iffco) withdrew its proposal of setting up a coal-based power plant

declaration of heat wave in Orissa has become an annual affair. This year, till May 2, 54 persons had succumbed to the heat wave; the official death toll was, however, nine. The year 1998, termed