Jamshedpur, Sept. 13: The government has decided to seek the legal opinion on the takeover of the quarters and other buildings of Rakha and Musaboni township at Ghatshila subdivision of the district.

The government decision comes in the wake of a meeting held in Ranchi today involving chief secretary Lakshmi Singh and senior authorities of Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) and Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL).

The quarters and buildings of the Rakha and Musaboni townships are at present under the control of Indian Copper Complex (ICC), a unit of the ailing public sector unit, HCL.

Additional secretary of Union mines ministry, S. Bhargava and chairman-cum-managing director of HCL Rana Shome, also took part in the meeting.

The Munda government had shown interest in taking over the infrastructure after the HCL management made an offer in this regard since the cash-strapped PSU was not in a position to clear JSEB?s outstanding dues, which was to the tune of nearly Rs 60 crore.

?The state government has decided to refer the issue to the advocate-general of the state to seek legal opinion. The decision was taken since the evaluation of the cost of the infrastructure of these townships was low compared to the dues outstanding to the board by HCL,? sources, who took part in the deliberations, said.

According to the sources, the government wants to take legal opinion on the issue since it cannot strike a deal in which it would suffer a loss.

The government has also planned to set up a police training centre at the townships. It also plans to open educational institutions in those towns.

It was learnt that in the meeting, JSEB agreed to reduce the electricity load of ICC from 20 MVA to 8 MVA.

?Since they would be giving up the two townships, they would be requiring less power. We have agreed to set up a new point at Moubhander area from where the company could draw power,? sources said and added that at present the company was drawing power from Musaboni area of the sub division.

Since HCL authorities have expressed helplessness in providing funds to the board as security deposit for establishing a new point at Moubhander, the board would take over the electrical assets of the company, which it wants to dispose of.