Heralding a new era in the field of power generation in the state, CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday dedicated the 110MW first unit of Kanti Bijli Utpadan Nigam Limited (KBUNL) to the people of the state. He announced on the occasion that one more power plant of 500MW would come up at Kanti, on the outskirts of the town, soon.
Hitherto, the state's own power generation was nil. The 110MW first unit, which had remained closed since 2003, was given to BHEL for renovation in April 2008, which completed the task at a cost of Rs 471 crore. NTPC is operating this unit under the aegis of a joint venture with the state government. The unit, which never generated more than 60 to 80MW between 1985 and 2003, on Sunday generated 111MW.
The power plant's second unit, again of 110MW, which is also under renovation, would be operational by March next. This was stated by the CM following a categorical assurance by BHEL engineers on the stage.
Addressing a well-attended meeting on the occasion, the CM said two more units of 195MW each are expected to go into production by September and December next year, bringing the total capacity of Kanti plant to 610MW by next year. "Availability of power is the basic problem of Bihar as it is needed for agricultural and industrial growth as well as for better civic life. I have taken energy augmentation as a challenge. I am committed to make Bihar self-sufficient in power generation by 2015," the CM announced.
He said on the day of Chhath, the state got 2,300MW power through different sources. The availability will go up to 3,000MW next year and with the setting up of one more power plant, the state's generation capacity would increase further. He called upon NTPC CMD, Arup Roychaudhary, also present on the occasion, to set up new units in Bihar and assured Bihar's full cooperation to NTPC.
The CM requested the power consumers to pay their power bills on time, otherwise the government might have to curtail its essential expenditure on education, health etc. He told the audience that out of Rs 12,000 crore received from the Centre as special assistance, the government had spent Rs 9,200 crore on power projects alone.
JD(U) MLA from Kanti, Ajit Kumar thanked the CM for keeping his promise of power generation augmentation at Kanti. Energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav was also present on the occasion.
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