NTPC drawing water without deal in Chhattisgarh: CAG

Central PSU National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has been drawing water from a canal in Chhattisgarh for the last 11 years without any agreement.

NTPC has been drawing water (for its 2100-Mw Korba plant) from MiniMata Bango barrage (in Korba district) since 1998 without any agreement with the state government, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report for the year ended March 31, 2009 said.

The penalty charges for the unauthorised drawal of water for 11 years amounts to Rs 316.26 crore for the period June 1998 to March 2009, the CAG report added.

The report quoted the test check of records in the office of the executive engineer (EE) with water management division of Korba's Minimata Bango project. After the introduction of form 7A (of standard agreement) with effect from June 1998, the EE sent the draft agreement to NTPC repeatedly, yet each time the NTPC authorities returned it unsigned, the report said.

The state government had intimated the engineer-in-chief of Water Resources Department in June 2004 that in the absence of any agreement, the drawal of water could be treated as being unauthorised. However, after another five years, the NTPC continues to draw water without executing any agreement, the report said, adding that even penalty rate has not been levied.

During the exit conference, the CAG report said, the secretary (with the department of water resources) had agreed that the drawal of water without execution of agreement was a case of unauthorised drawal and efforts were being made to execute the agreement. The department also intimated that the matter regarding levy of penal rate till date of agreement will be examined.

The NTPC management had said that it had inked a pact with the state government later to draw water from Bango project. Replying to a query, the NTPC Korba's communication department informed that on December 21, 2009 it had signed an agreement with the Chhattisgarh government to draw 3,01,307 cubic meter of water per day from Minimata Bango project.