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| NTPC to take over Jharkhand PTPS plant |
The power ministry has laced with sweeteners its offer to let Central generation utility NTPC take over Jharkhand State Electricity Board's coal-fired power station at Patratu for turning it around. Power secretary Anil Razdan has informed the state chief secretary that the Central utility will also set up state-of-the-art generators and provide power to villages in the plant's vicinity besides taking up distribution in Ranchi.
According to the proposal, NTPC will use the land available at the power plant to set up units of 660-800 mw capacity, while at the same time renovate the existing 110 mw generators to improve efficiency and ensure they are good for the next 10 years or so. The new generators will be less-polluting than the existing machinery and will run longer before needing maintenance shut-downs. NTPC is also willing to take over the distribution licence for Ranchi. Not just that, it also promises to supply electricity in villages within a radius of 10 km of the Patratu plant through the Centre's Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana.
All these will come with the added benefit of community development programmes and relief and rehab to be carried out by the Central utility. The biggest gain for the state is the power that will be available once the plant's generation improves and the additional electricity from the expanded capacity. The Patratu plant's performance during the last 7-8 years has been dismal.
Central records show that the plant's efficiency has declined from 20.7% in 2000-2001 to a meagre 9.12% in 2006-2007. This means the plant has been producing power at just 9% of its rated capacity of 840 mw.
This becomes negative generation if one considers the fact that all this while the plant's auxiliary power consumption has varied between 13% and 22%. In net term then, the plant has been consuming more power than it has been producing.
NTPC has a remarkable track record of turning around old power plants doddering on the brink of blowing their fuse permanently. It has turned around and expanded units such as Unchahar and Tanda in UP, Talcher in Orissa and Badarpur in Delhi. It is also working on the Kanti plant in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NTPC_to_take_over_Jharkhand_plant/articleshow/2896404.cms |
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| Humta Pahad resembles a cake with a huge piece missing |
Humta village in the interiors of Jharkhand has a queer, yet extraordinary, landmark — a mountain with one side completely flat. Hundreds of metres of gray rocky expanse glistening in the sun, Humta Pahad resembles a cake with a huge piece missing.
If the sight of the mountain strikes you as odd, the ‘flat’ explanation is bizarre. For years, villagers have been chipping away at Humta Pahad so they can feed their families. They cut the rocks, which are then snapped up by construction industry giants.
The disappeared side of the mountain is a statement on the state of governance in the insurgency-hit region, where officials do not venture, saying Naxalites will attack them. Villagers say that is a convenient excuse.
“Government officials tell us, ‘we cannot come there, it is an MCC (Maoist Communist Centre) area’. But that is not true,” said Draupadi Devi, the only woman in her village preparing to be a graduate in a year. “The Naxals do not try to stop development work. They know we will oppose them if they do.”
Many children go to school in the area, but that, for most, is their dead end. The few who could go to college in nearby Bundu town had no employment opportunities thereafter. There was little to earn from, except by selling firewood. None of the welfare schemes of the central or state governments have touched the lives of the people here.
“We had to feed ourselves and our families, and we realised there was nothing that the government or anyone else was going to do for us,” said Turu Munda, 45, as he takes a break from stone cutting.
Every morning at 7, dozens of men and women come to the site, many barefoot. The men trudge up the rock face with hammers. The women remain at the base to chisel the rocks into neat cubes and lug them to the waiting trucks.
They get a rupee and a half for every cube of rock — as big as two loaves of bread pressed against each other. Of that, the village head or munda gets 20 paise as commission, because he owns the mountain according to customary laws.
A munshi (clerk) sits at the base of the mountain jotting down every tedious detail. Each rock is accounted for before villagers dump them in the trolleys. These belong to agents of construction companies in Ranchi, forever looking for raw material to feed the booming construction industry.
Villagers work 11 hours every day, winding up at about 6 pm, making Rs 150 on a good day. With no other livelihood opportunities in sight, many wonder how long it is before the Humta Pahad will disappear.
“It was a huge mountain. One third has been cut off over years now. Let us see how long it lasts,” said local lawyer Vinod Kumar Singh.
hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=58a3ec29-7898-4e55-bd5c-832de0470e65&&Headline=Hunger+made+them+cut+a+mountain |
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