DVC to miss commonwealth games target
Indronil Roychowdhury
Kolkata: Damodar Valley Corp (DVC), the three-way venture between the Union, West Bengal and Jharkhand governments, is way behind its schedule to commission the thermal projects adding up to 5200 mw generation, of which 2500 mw is earmarked to power Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010.

DVC plans to commission Chandrapura-7 (250 mw) and Chandrapura- 8 (250 mw) in September 2009 and March 2010 and units one and two (2x500 mw) of Mejia-2 in April and July, 2010. Units one and two (2x500 mw) of Koderma are supposed to be commissioned in October 2010 and January 2011, and units one and two (2x600 mw) of Raghunathpur in March and June, 2011.

Two units of Durgapur Steel Thermal Power Station (2x500 mw) are scheduled to start operation by December 2010 and Feburary 2011, respectively and a unit of Bokaro-A by March 2012. However, all these projects are behind schedule, according to the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), the apex body of power sector engineers.

The AIPEF has already sent a report to the Prime Minister regarding delays in implementing the projects. The slippage in project work is mainly because of the absence of a regular chairman, the report stated.

Although the power ministry had appointed Sreemath Pandey as DVC chairman in June, this year, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Ghelot is reluctant to release him. When contacted by FE, Pandey said:: "Of course I am keen to join DVC, but the Rajasthan government is not releasing me. Let's see what happens."

Pandey is, currently, the principal secretary of the CM’s department as well as the energy department in Rajasthan. Subrata Biswas, DVC's secretary, said: ‘‘There is no possibility of Pandey joining the DVC. Having a full-time chairman is still uncertain and the ministry is looking into the issue.’’

The post of a full-time DVC chairman is lying vacant since December 2008. GB Pradhan, additional secretary of the ministry of power, was given the additional charge of DVC after Asim Barman retired on November 30, 2008.

Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde requested Prime Minster to give an extension to Barman in order to ensure timely commissioning of the projects. However, the PM turned down his request

Shinde's letter to the Prime Minister (available with FE) written on April 22, 2008, states: "In order to ensure the commissioning of the massive thermal capacity addition projects including the Commonwealth Games projects in time...