From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention to strengthen power evacuation system in the Northeastern region on priority basis.
Speaking at the Prime Minister convened meeting on Monday in Delhi, he said with the commissioning of Palatana power plant’s first unit, Tripura has a surplus power of about 50 MW and OTPC has 50 MW more power surplus. And the power generation will further go up after coming up of Palatana’s phase II and Manarchak power project.
“In spite the surplus power, it is not being transmitted to other NE states or outside the region. Ministry of Power or Central PSU like Power Grid Corporation Ltd may extend necessary assistance for evacuation and sale of power in the mainland states on priority basis,” he pointed out.
Sarkar also took up the issue of power sale to neighbouring Bangladesh. “Request of Bangladesh government for purchase of power from India may be considered in the proper perspective. Evacuation of power from PTPC plant in Tripura would require drawing of only nine-km transmission line. This would prove a quick solution to the problem of evacuation of power surplus”, he mentioned.
The lack of proper evacuation system means that surplus power could not be transmitted to the mainland states where power is required. Tripura which has already become power surplus could not sell power outside the state since it is not connected with the national grid and the same has resulted in huge loss for Tripura State Electricity Corporation (TSECL) as well OTPC, a subsidiary company of oil giant ONGC.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister also demanded speedy completion of BG conversion work from Lumding to Agartala via Badarpur. The meter-gauge line is scheduled to be converted into BG by 2015 next, according to NFR sources.
Adequate financial provision is required to complete Agartala-Sabroom rail link (112 km) by 2015 as the progress is very slow he said.
