Chhattisgarh to supply 300 MW power to Karnataka

October 5th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh has embarked on a plan to become a leading power producer in India, signing 61 deals with independent power producers (IPPs) to generate about 50,000 MW of electricity, an official said Monday. The coal-fired power projects will come up in northern Chhattisgarh, a coal-rich belt, on a total investment of around Rs.250,000 crore.

August 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Karnataka Government and the Centre to reply within three weeks to an allegation by the Tamil Nadu Government that the Karnataka Government has unilaterally decided to go ahead with Sivasamudram Hydero power project in the Cauvery Basin by violating the directions of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. The bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam issued the notices.

July 23rd, 2009 RAIPUR - A 500 MW power plant in Chhattisgarh that stopped production July 14 due to coal shortage has resumed generation, a company official said Thursday. The NSPCL plant, set up by state-run National Thermal Power Corporation and the Steel Authority India Limited, is located at Bhilai in Durg district, some 30 km west of here.

July 23rd, 2009 RAIPUR - Power utility NTPC Ltd has agreed to provide 35 percent of the electricity produced at its upcoming 500 MW stage-III Korba project to Chhattisgarh, a government statement said Thursday. "NTPC (formerly National Thermal Power Corp) has agreed to provide 175 MW power to Chhattisgarh from its 500 MW stage-III Korba project that will begin generation by February 2010," the statement said.

July 11th, 2009 RAIPUR - India's largest power producer NTPC, formerly National Thermal Power Corp, Sunday signed an agreement with the Chhattisgarh government for setting up a 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant on an investment of Rs.20,000 crore. Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who was present during signing of the pact, said the plant would be set up in the coal-rich Raigarh district.

July 5th, 2009 RAIPUR - A Chhattisgarh environment panel has ordered that power supply to three sponge iron units here be cut after residents of the surrounding villages protested that industries were responsible for large scale pollution in the area, officials said Sunday. A team of Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) raided Siltara and Urla industrial areas on the outskirts of Raipur last week amid complaints of gross neglect to pollution control measures and also for not using mandatory electro-static precipitator (ESP) machines.

June 23rd, 2009 RAIPUR - Decks have been cleared for the 4,000-MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Chhattisgarh as the central government has finally approved the project, ending months-long controversy. The government, which had earlier selected Chhattisgarh as one of the five states for setting up UMPPs, reportedly rejected the project last August as the state government stuck to its demand for 50 percent of power at "invariable cost" from the project.

June 1st, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Monday announced that it will provide free electricity to farmers using irrigation pumps under five horse power capacity. The scheme, which will cost the state exchequer an estimated Rs.150 crore annually, will come into effect from Aug 15 this year, an official statement said.

May 4th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Terming Manmohan Singh a weak prime minister, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Monday accused the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of not taking strict steps to fight terrorism. 'Under the leadership of a weak prime minister, the Congress-led UPA government has failed completely in combating terrorism,' he said at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri district.

April 30th, 2009 RAIPUR - About 700 forested villages in Chhattisgarh's restive southern Bastar region were plunged into darkness as Maoist militants blew up a power supply tower, police said Thursday. Armed guerrillas of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) late Wednesday night stormed into a forested interior village, Bodli, in Bijapur district, some 500 km from capital Raipur, and set the explosives under a supply tower and blasted it off.

March 23rd, 2009 BANGALORE - Congress President Sonia Gandhi will launch her party's campaign for the Lok Sabha elections from Davangere in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Karnataka today. The launch of the campaign from Karnataka is seen significant as Karnataka was once seen as a Congress stronghold and where the BJP is considered to have made inroads.

February 8th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Karnataka is keen to replicate Gujarat's unique 'Jyotigram Yojana' which provides 24 hour electrical supply to villages, the state's Energy Minister K.S. Eshwarappa Monday said here.

January 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh will start generating up to 700 MW power over the next three years using dust from coal washeries, Chief Minister Raman Singh said Sunday. Speaking at the two-day convention on 'Energy security from renewable energy sources' here, he said the country can narrow the widening demand-supply power gap by looking into options to generate power from non-conventional sources.

January 13th, 2009 MUMBAI - State-owned engineering and manufacturing major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has signed a deal with Karnataka to set up three thermal plants with a total capacity of 2,260 MW in the state. BHEL will set up a joint venture with Karnataka Power Corp for constructing a 660 MW thermal power plant at Edlapur in Raichur district of Karnataka, the company said in a regulatory statement.

December 31st, 2008 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government Thursday announced that it has split the state electricity board into five entities - one holding company and four others to manage transmission, distribution, production and trading. The new companies are - Chhattisgarh State Power Transmission Co.