Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Monday. Telegraph picture

Patna, Nov. 3: The first unit of NTPC’s 660 MW super thermal power plant at Barh and the second unit of 110 MW of Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station at Kanti would be formally inaugurated on November 15.

The decision was taken in Delhi when chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi called on Union power minister Piyush Goyal at the latter’s office today.

“It was agreed at the meeting that both Goyal and Manjhi will jointly inaugurate the plants,” state energy secretary and Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Ltd (BSHCL) chairman and managing director Pratyaya Amrit said over phone from Delhi.

The first unit of 110 MW of Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station (MTPS) was formally inaugurated by Nitish Kumar, who was chief minister then, on November 17, 2013. The plant, which wiped the stigma of Bihar being nil thermal power generating state, was inaugurated after the completion of renovation and modernisation (R&M) of MTPS.

Bihar would get all the 110 MW of power which would be generated from MTPS after the completion of R&M while the state would get 330 MW from the plant as the Centre has allocated 50 per cent share from Barh’s stage-II plant, located 60km east of Patna.

Both the plants at Barh and Kanti have been successfully conducted pre-commissioning trial during which they were run at 670 MW and 110 MW, respectively, sources said.

Manjhi also raised a host of issues that included expediting the R&M work of both the two units of 110 MW at Barauni, being carried out by BHEL, one of the largest engineering and manufacturing companies, which manufactures power plant equipment.

Terming the meeting “fruitful”, Amrit said Goyal said he would examine the issue of Bihar’s demand for additional allocation of 300 MW from the central sector. The state has been allocated 2,129 MW from the central sector.