NGRBA meet on Nov 1 over hydel projects

The National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is meeting on November 1 in New Delhi to take a final call on the fate of a series of hydel projects on the Ganga. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today indicated that he would support scrapping of the big projects.

“We want to maintain an uninterrupted flow of the Ganga (Bhagirathi) but at the same time we also want to explore the possibility of setting up small hydel projects instead of big ones in the river,” said Nishank ahead of the crucial meeting of the NGRBA which is being held after a gap of more than one year.

Nishank said he would be participating in the meeting and demanded compensatory 2,000 Mw free power from the Centre in lieu of the decision to scrap three hydel projects. A group of ministers headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee this year, recommended the closure of the three big projects — 600-Mw Loharinag Pala, 480-Mw Pala Maneri and 381-Mw Bhaironghati.

While, NTPC has already been assured of a compensation of Rs 650 crore for the Loharinag Pala project, Uttarakhand is yet to get any compensation for its two projects – Pala Maneri and Bhaironghati.

Nishank also demanded six MMSCMD of gas from the Centre for setting up two gas-based projects with a total capacity of 1,000 Mw. “We want to set up two gas-based projects of 500 Mw each — one in Roorkee area (Haridwar district) and another in Kashipur or Rudrapur areas (Udhamsingh district).

He also sought from the centre for allocation of coal blocks for the hill state in order to set up thermal plants.

In addition to this, he said the centre must give early approval to 420-Mw Lakhwar Vyasi, 660-Mw Kishau and 30-Mw Jamrani multi-purpose projects in the hill state.

The NGRBA was set up in February 2009 with an aim to conserve the river Ganga and remove its pollution with an holistic approach.