From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Worried by the fate of ambitious Palatana power project, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has called a high level meeting to review the present status of the 726 MW power project.
Chairman cum Managing Director (CMD) of ONGC Sudhir Basudeva and chief of BHEL were ‘requested’ to attend the important meeting scheduled on April 9 next.
ONGC sources said, CMD Mr. Basudeva is expected to arrive here either on April 8 or 9 next to attend the meeting. The commissioning of first unit of Palatana project will be on the table when the meeting begins, sources said here on Monday.
The first unit of Palatana was scheduled to be operational by February but it could not take place due to mechanical faults at boiler turbine. “The entire boiler set up has been dismantled to remove the fault. And it will take at least two months to compete the works”, said an official of ONGC Power Project Corporation (OTPC).
Besides review of Palatana’s progress, the ONGC head might inform the Chief Minister about the oil giant’s initiative for setting up a fertiliser manufacturing factory at Kumarghat in Unakoti district.
With Palatana project failing to produce power, the overall power situation in Tripura continues to remain grim. While the total shortfall of power stands at 80/90 MW, the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL) is literally struggling to handle the situation.
The state which supposed to receive to 100 MW from outside the state is now allowed to draw only 50/60 MW leading to huge shortfall in the power supply.
“The power situation in the state will not improve untill the Palatana comes up. Almost all the hydro power projects in Northeast put on shut down due to severe scarcity of water”, said an official of TSECL.