Govt to compensate NTPC for Uttarakhand project cancellation

The Centre will compensate NTPC to the tune of Rs 600 crore for cancellation of its 600 megawatt (Mw) hydropower project at Loharinag-Pala in Uttarakhand, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said today.

"The Central government will give money that has been assured to NTPC," Shinde told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.

NTPC has so far invested about Rs 600-crore on the project and placed orders worth Rs 2,000-crore for equipment.

It earlier envisaged installation of four generating units of 150 Mw utilising a drop of 476.5-metres to have a maximum capacity of 600 Mw.

A Group Of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in August scrapped NTPC's Loharinag Pala hydel project on environmental and religious grounds.

Work on the Loharinag-Pala dam had commenced in 2005 but it was suspended last year by the Environment Ministry, following concerns raised by environmentalists and locals, that the free-flowing character of the Bhagirathi has almost come to a halt.

Commenting on concerns raised over setting up of the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) in Ratnagiri district, Shinde said "we will see that the environment is not affected. But once the project is started, it cannot be stopped by anybody."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting on October 13 of the Coal Minister, Environment Minister and Power Minister to discuss the matter, Shinde said.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh recently assured a group of activists from Maharashtra that concerns about the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) in Ratnagiri district would be addressed scientifically before according clearance to it.

The land acquisition protests came to a peak in May this year, when angry villagers stalled a public hearing on the project, being promoted by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL).