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New Delhi, Feb. 21: The Centre’s cabinet committee on investment has approved the setting up of the 1,980MW North Karnpura super thermal power plant in Jharkhand by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
The approval came late last evening, paving way for the mega project that is expected to boost power availability in Jharkhand and neighbouring states significantly.
The power ministry, setting aside objections raised by the coal ministry, had recently moved a draft cabinet note seeking coal linkage for proposed power plant in the state.
The committee, said sources in the power ministry, agreed to restore the original coal linkage for the project, that has been cleared for setting up in the vicinity of Tandwa town in Chatra district.
“The coal supply for the project will be made available in the 13th five-year plan (2017-2021),” said a senior power official, adding the coal ministry had withdrawn coal linkage for the NTPC project estimated at Rs 14,000 crore in 2008.
The power project in Hazaribagh, first envisaged in 1998 during the NDA regime at the Centre, has been stuck, as the area selected for the plant was identified as a major coalfield containing about 6 billion tonne fine quality coal. The coal ministry had been pitching to shift the project site.
The project first took off and NTPC spent around Rs 250 crore before coal ministry objected to the project back saying that the move will block coal reserves of nearly 6 billion tones at the site.
Sinha content
Hazaribagh MP Yashwant Sinha has expressed satisfaction with the Centre’s go-ahead to the North Karnpura Super Thermal Power plant, saying his persistent efforts to kick-start the pending project had finally borne fruit.
The MP said Jyotiraditya Scindia informed him about the approval, following a meeting of the committee on investment, yesterday. Sinha said he had also talked to senior railway officials who promised to open the Hazaribagh-Koderma rail line by June 30.
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