Tamil Nadu seeks to set up power plant in Chhattisgarh

"Tamil Nadu's Energy Minister Natham R Vishwnathan today met Chief Minister Raman Singh at his official residence and expressed Tamil Nadu government's willingness to establish a thermal power plant," Energy Secretary, Chhattisgarh, Aman Kumar Singh told PTI.

Vishwanathan invited the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister to ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard.

According to the energy policy of Chhattisgarh government, the host state will get priority to buy the first 30 per cent of total generation.

Union Coal Ministry had allocated coal block Gare Pelma Sec-2 in Chhattisgarh to a joint enterprise of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and Maharashtra State Mineral Corporation Limited, 'Maha-Tamil Collieries Limited', in August 2006.

Tamil Nadu has 78 per cent partnership in mining while Maharashtra has 22 per cent. "The state government will think over the proposal of Tamil Nadu," secretary Singh added.

He further said Tamil Nadu is the third state in the country which had expressed willingness to establish power plant in Chhattisgarh.

Delhi has also shown interest in starting a power plant here while Karnataka is establishing a 1320 MW thermal plant in Janjgir-Champa district.