Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Monday said that the Talcher expansion project of NTPC was not synchronous with the state's power requirement.

Taking a tough stance on the issue ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Talcher on September 22, the state government said if the plant was being set up only to meet the power requirements of other states it would be advisable to rather transport the coal to those states and set up the plant there.

The BJP wants Modi to lay the foundation stone for the NTPC's 1,320MW Talcher power plant during his visit. But he can do it only if the state government gives its nod to the project.

The government wants that NTPC should provide power to the state from its Odisha-based plants and not source it from neighbouring Bihar as is being done now.

On Monday, the state government reviewed the NTPC expansion project.

"Odisha has already planned for long-term procurement of power to meet its anticipated power demand to supply 24X7 power to all its consumers. Odisha shall be comfortably able to meet the requirement from the upcoming power plants of OPGC (1,320MW) and NTPC Darlipali (800MW), both of which shall become fully operational in 2019. This addition of approximately 2,100MW capacity along with the additional procurement of renewable energy (solar and wind), which is mandatory in nature, shall lead to a considerable surplus of power," an official said.

He said: "In such a surplus situation, if additional power capacity comes up at Talcher, Odisha will be subject to payment of capacity charges even without utilising any power. Therefore, the expansion of Talcher can be considered only in the interest of Odisha.."

The official said that the Angul district in Odisha where Talcher is located had significant pollution load. The available cushion in pollution limits should be preferably utilised for setting up of more employment intensive industries such as aluminum and steel down-industries which would provide more economic benefits to the local people.

Energy minister Sushant Singh said: "The Centre should not impose anything on us. Before demanding clearance for the project, all these issues should be settled."