India to supply 160MW power to Nepal from Jan 1
India will start supplying an additional 80MW electricity to Nepal from January 1, 2017, through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line, the…
The government has decided to come up with an alternative power supply for 20,000 households of Singur before the two substations are pulled down for handing over land to farmers.
Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay will visit the Singur site on Thursday and hold a meeting with district officials in this regard. Sources in Nabanna said a decision on alternative power supply is likely to be taken at Thursday&’s meeting.
The Tata Motors had built the two substations on 47-acre and 2 acre-plots respectively.
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Now, as per a Supreme Court order, in order to return the 997.11 acre of land in cultivable form, the government has to first pull down the substations as well as other structures.
Initially, it was decided that the substations would be the first to be pulled down. This was to be followed by the boundary wall and shed of the aborted Tata small car factory that is on 42 acre.
However, the substations provide power to 20,000 households and pulling them down would lead to darkness in the entire region. So, the government has decided to come up with an alternative arrangement before these substations are pulled down.
However, a section of the officials said that the decision of not pulling down the two substations might have been taken by the government to accommodate industry that may express interest in investment in Singur.
The state government has already kept the option of industrialisation open along with agriculture on Singur land. A senior minister said, the land would be returned to the farmers and it would be for the farmers to decide on whether they want agriculture or industry on their plots.
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