Shinde rejects Ramesh's demand to review N-E projects

Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today rejected Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s proposal for a review of all hydro power projects in the country’s north-eastern region on environmental grounds.

“Once the project implementation has begun, it cannot be stopped by anyone’s whims and fancies. The government is committed to protect environment but the proposed power projects or those under construction are also equally important,” Shinde told reporters on the sidelines of the Indian Nuclear Energy Summit here.

He said the issue would be discussed at the proposed meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 13 with the ministries concerned.

Shinde’s reaction comes at a time when Ramesh had taken up his demands with the Prime Minister for reviewing all hydro power projects in the North-East. Ramesh has also pitched for a moratorium on any further clearance for hydro power projects in Arunachal Pradesh on the grounds that these projects are bound to be the subject of agitation in Assam.

On the Centre’s decision to scrap NTPC’s 600-Mw Lahorinag Pala project on the Bhagirathi, a tributary of the Ganga in Uttarakhand, Shinde said the government had assured all compensation to the state-run power major.

Capacity addition
Shinde said India would achieve a capacity addition of 62,374 Mw by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan against a target of 78,600 Mw.

Meanwhile, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Banerjee said India had the potential to become a manufacturing and export hub for nuclear reactors with generation capacities of 250 Mw, 500 Mw and 700 Mw.