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The 1980-mw Nabinagar
thermal power project has
remained stuck due to apathy
of the Bihar state government.
Though the state has brought up the
issue of poor power supply situation
in Bihar at many occasions, it has
failed to provide the basic
infrastructure for the development of
the project. The project, being
developed by Nabinagar Power
Generating Company Pvt Ltd, a joint
venture between NTPC and Bihar
State Electricity Board, has failed to
take off due to pending land
allocation. Though it has been over
three years since the State
government committed land to the
project, it is yet to be allocated to the
power project.
With the land still unavailable to the
project, the long term coal linkage to
the project has also been pending.
NTPC officials recently visited Bihar
and requested the State government
to expedite the handover of the land as
the pending allocation is hurting the
other implementation activities
initiated for the project.
It was earlier reported that the
reason for the delay in land allocation
is due to contention between Bihar
government and the Visthapit Kisan
Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti for
acquisition of land. The members of
the Samiti members have been
demanding higher compensation for
the identified land, a uniform rate for
all the land that falls under the 16
villages, a house, a government job to
a member of every affected family and
free education to the children. The
state government has been trying to
resolve the issue.
Bihar is one of the most power
starved states of the country. This
eastern state is proposed to be
allocated 1373.5 mw from the 1,800-
mw Nabinagar project, resulting in
potential improvement of Bihar’s
current power scenario.
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