In power cut lies the paradox of land versus development
SUVRO ROY

Calcutta, April 26: The power outages over the past week have forced into Bengal’s living rooms the biggest issue churning the election here — the uncomfortable question whether some should be coerced to give up their land to address the needs of the rest.

Bengal faces a 400-700MW shortfall, even after commissioning two units in Bakreswar and Sagardighi with a combined capacity of 510MW on April 24, and the demand is expected to rise by 400MW every year.

Yet a key long-term project to combat the shortage — a 1,000MW plant in Katwa, Burdwan — is stalled because of anti-land acquisition protests by farmers and a Trinamul Congress-led committee.

Under the original plan drawn up in 2006, the first 500MW unit in Katwa was to start generating in 2010 and the second in about another year. With two new units at Budge Budge and Bakreswar slated to produce 460MW from June this year, the Katwa plant would have been crucial in bridging the gap till 2013 when two 500MW units are expected to start functioning at Sagardighi and two 300MW units in Haldia.

But the land protests have forced the state government to put Katwa on ice till, in power secretary Sunil Mitra’s words — “as and when land is available”. “For now, we are focusing on Sagardighi,” Mitra added.

Power department sources said the government was not planning any further green-field power projects — actually because of the land controversy but officially because it has several new units lined up at the existing plants for the 2013-18 period.

But after that the old plants — whose sites were acquired under the land acquisition act in the pre-Nandigram, pre-Singur days — will run out of space and the government will have to look for land elsewhere, sources said.

A large number of Katwa farmers whose land has been identified, however, are determined to continue their resistance. “Our land is like our mother and we will not give it up either for a power plant or for industry,” said Gopal Chandra Saha, 45, who has five acres in Koshigram mouza.

Asked whether the state’s people should then continue to suffer, he replied: “I know there is a severe power crisis, but a suitable place should be found for the plant. Why do they have to build it on such fertile, multi-crop land?” Farmer Prasanta Ghosh, 43, who owns 10 acres in Debkundu, asked the same question.

Officials said power plants, even thermal projects, needed to be built near riverbanks — which tend to be fertile — because they required uninterrupted water supply. “We chose Katwa because it is on the banks of the Bhagirathi, close to the Asansol coal belt and has good railway connectivity,” an official said.

For now, therefore, the government is focusing on short-term solutions to the existing crisis. According to West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL) officials, the state has an installed capacity of 6,140MW (which will rise to 6,600MW in June) and should theoretically face no shortfall since the demand is just 5,000 MW.

The problem is, some unit or the other is forever being shut down for repairs, while generation has to be kept low at Kolaghat, Sagardighi and Bakreswar because of poor-quality coal.

“At Kolaghat, the ash content in the coal is high; at Bakreswar and Sagardighi, it has stone content which damages our coal-crushing mills,” said S. Mahapatra, WBPDCL managing director.

The power department has taken up the matter of quality with Coal India and also plans to lease a mine near Asansol. “We have asked the WBPDCL to step up generation at any cost,” power secretary Mitra said.

Following this, generation was increased at Kolaghat by feeding more coal into its boilers, and the Sagardighi and Bakreswar plants that were finished last year were commissioned on Friday.

The long-term plans include new units at Bakreswar, Santaldih and Durgapur Projects which will generate 1,350MW — just enough to meet the rise in demand over three years — between 2013 and 2018. And another 1,000MW from Katwa, if the land problem somehow goes away by then.

The Katwa resistance had started in February 2006, months before Singur. The Save Farmland Committee was formed in 2007 to block the acquisition of the required 1,000 acres. The local administration, though, began the first phase of acquisition — targeting 350 acres — in February this year.

It claims to have handed over 70 per cent of the cheques in the CPM-dominated mouzas of Srikhanda and Debkundu and parts of Koshigram. That’s where the acquisition process will end if the Trinamul leadership has its way.

“We are not against power plants but why does land have to be snatched from farmers? Let the government find an alternative place or expand its existing plants,” said Trinamul leader Partha Chatterjee.

Build power plants but don’t acquire land forcibly — this is the paradox confronting a government that appears to have lost the will to implement unpopular decisions after the Nandigram backlash.

The seemingly irreconcilable position is adopted by those at the receiving end, too. Many in Calcutta feel that though building power plants is important, land must not be taken from farmers by force.

“Power plants must be built but after Singur and Nandigram, forcible acquisition will lead to unnecessary violence. The government should tread carefully and convince villagers and find out what they want. No force should be used,” said Arup Duttagupta, an electrical engineer who lives in Lake Town.

Many villagers outside Katwa agree. Sajal Chowdhury, 30, an affluent farmer from Kolanpur, said he suffered five to six hours of power cuts every day at his village in Burdwan’s Mangalkot.

“But we don’t support building power plants by forcibly acquiring farmland. They should be set up on barren land. Land acquisition should be done with the agreement of local people. Then violence can be avoided.”

Amitava Chatterjee, professor of economics at Presidency College, said: “A consensus is required. The government will have to be careful. But I believe that by talking to landowners and taking them into confidence, it can overcome this problem.”

Industry sources blamed the power department for failing to anticipate the rise in demand and build capacity. They also complained about the quality of power.

“The sharp voltage fluctuations damage modern equipment, computers,” said D.P. Nag, secretary of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.