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BJP leaders in Kaimur Hills push for hydel projects with power minister
I have been pursuing the matter since the 1990s. These hydel projects will change the fate of poor tribal and scheduled caste people on Kaimur hills. It is a good coincidence that the Union power minister is here, says Paswan
BJP MP from Sasaram, Chhedi Paswan, MLC Santosh Kumar Singh and other local leaders of the party from Bihar’s Kaimur have requested union power minister Raj Kumar Singh, who was in Rohtas on Saturday as part of the party’s Jan Ashrivad Yatra in Bihar, to approve four long-pending hydroelectric power projects in Kaimur Hills which are estimated to produce 2,570 mega watts of electricity.
“I have been pursuing the matter since the 1990s. These hydel projects will change the fate of poor tribal and scheduled caste people on Kaimur hills. It is a good coincidence that the Union power minister is here,” Paswan said.
He was referring to the Bihar State Hydroelectric Power Corporation’s (BHPC) proposal for setting up hydel power projects at Sinafdar (345 MW), Telhar Kund (400 MW), Panchgotia (225 MW) on river Suara and Hathiadah-Durgawati (1600 MW) on river Durgawati in the hilly region of Kaimur district’s Adhaura block, which has been awaiting clearance for a long time despite the completion of major legwork, including feasibility studies for the project between year 2000 and 2010, officials aware of the developments said.
The preliminary project reports along with clarifications and details sought by the Central agencies were duly furnished by BHPC during this period and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) also conducted surveys of the four sites and made a pre-feasibility report. Not just that, a team of Japan Bank of International Cooperation, renamed as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), too got a project viability assessment done, officials said.
“A study commissioned by JICA found the Hathiadah-Durgawati project to be very attractive and agreed to extend financial assistance,” said LP Sinha, retired BHPC managing director who worked on the project proposals during his tenure.
Rameshwar Singh, the then principal secretary (energy) in Bihar, wrote on September 29, 2010, to the Union ministry of power highlighting how these environment-friendly and carbon emission-free projects were likely to result in rapid augmentation of power generation, stability of transmission and meeting the state’s power demand, MP Chhedi Paswan said.
