The Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company ltd (CSPGCl) will construct a 2.0 MlD sewage treatment plant (STP) with elevated storage reservoir and pipeline for treated water utilization scheme for its housing colony at Korba East Thermal Power Station (TPS), officials informed.
It will also install ‘Continuous Stack Emission Monitoring System' at all its thermal power stations in Korba district.
The Monioring System will be installed at 4x210 MW HTPS Korba West, 2x250 MW DSPM TPS, Korba East and 2x120 MW & 4x50 MW KTPS Korba East, officials informed.
Notably, earlier, three large thermal power plants in Chhattisgarh were asked by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to upgrade their pollution control systems , the Central Government informed.
The power plants are NTPC, Korba and Korba (East) & West units of Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company ltd (CSPGCl).
The compliance with environmental norms in Thermal power plants is monitored by CPCB, State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees. Based on the inspections carried by CPCB under Environmental Surveillance Squad (ESS) and SMS alerts are generated, they informed.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is among 16 other states in the country which had implemented advanced automated solutions to deal with environmental and pollution related applications and approvals, the Central Government had informed earlier.
These solutions provide hassle free, 24 X 7 'e-access' to businesses to apply online, track applications, file returns and statements and get online permissions under various Acts and regulations.
The States include-- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.
Notably, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in partnership with the World Bank Group had released the results of the Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms 2015-16.
The Assessment studies extent to which states have implemented DIPP’s 340-point Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) for States/UTs 2015-16, covering the period July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.
The BRAP includes recommendations for reforms on 58 regulatory processes, policies, practices or procedures spread across 10 reform areas spanning the life cycle of a typical business.
There has been significant progress this year in the area of judicial reforms compared to last year, particularly due to the passage of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Divisions and Commercial Appellate Divisions Act.
To address the concern of time and costs associated with various legal processes, District Courts in various states have also made the provision of making online payments, e-filing and e-summons. Few States have also filled up vacancies in District Courts/commercial courts to ensure availability of adequate capacity for dealing with various cases.
The states which achieved the aforesaid milestones include-- Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana.
However, the present evaluation also highlights the need to properly communicate, monitor and evaluate these reforms to ensure that their impact is being felt on the ground.
Online pollution monitoring systems have been installed in 17 types of industries totalling 45 units which are located near Raipur city in August last year.
This was information by provided by Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) officials to Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand who chaired a meeting at the Mantralaya for reviewing pollution control measures taken in and around Raipur city.
In the meeting, Chief Secretary issued directives to begin implementation of the Government subsidy scheme for conversion of diesel auto-rickshaws into CNG operated ones soon, so as to promote use of clean fuel.
Decision to launch a helpline number for lodging complaints regarding violation of noise/air pollution standards has also been taken, officials informed.
The officials concerned were also directed to inspect private hospitals and take necessary action for safe disposal of bio-medical waste.
CSPGCl has also prepared a plan to mine 5.6 million tonnes of coal per annum from Gidhmuri and Paturia coal blocks in Korba district once all statutory clearances are received, officials informed.
The area of the mining blocks is spread in 17.52 square kms with a mineable reserve of the block of 158.40 million tonnes of coal.
Notably, CSPGCl will also be seeking diversion of forest land of Gidhmuri and Paturia captive Coal Block in Korba district, officials informed.
Chhattisgarh has planned to achieve installed power generation capacity of 30,000 MW by 2017-18.
Chief Minister Raman Singh on March 31 last year had informed in the Chhattisgarh Assembly that the power generation from one unit of 1000 MW under construction Madwa Thermal Power plant commenced commercial production on March 31, 2016 in Janjgir-Champa district after necessary technical checks.
Notably, CSPGCl is setting up the 2x500 MW Madwa Power Plant in Janjgir-Champa district.
The Chhattisgarh Government also announced recently that for development of power sector and strengthen infrastructure related to it, a five-year Capital Investment Plan (CIP) has been chalked out.
Under this plan, funds to tune of around Rs 7466 crore have been included and time duration for the visionary scheme has been fixed from 2016-17 to 2020-21.
The works for various schemes including general schemes such as Chief Minister Urban Electrification Scheme, Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, Mukhyamantri Manjra Tola Vidhyutikaran Yojana, EITC, IT projects, civil works and others will be carried out.
Along with extension of 4500 km-long 33 kv line, as many as 290 substations of 33/11 kv will be developed in the State.
The State has recorded significant rise in number of power connection holders. During the time of Chhattisgarh’s formation, the State had around 18 lakh power connection holders which is now around 42 lakh.
Notably , Chhattisgarh will procure additional power from renewable energy sources to the tune of approximately 700 MW by FY 2018, officials informed.
With this the average power purchase cost for Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl) based on the above power availability will increase from Rs 2.58 /kWh in FY 2015-16 to Rs 3.12 /kWh in FY 2018, they informed.
The rates have been derived based on cost of power at existing rates and considering no escalation in power purchase cost since it is passing through for the distribution company.
Chhattisgarh is also planning to add 2640 MW of additional renewable energy capacity by financial year 2018-19, officials informed.
The State currently has total renewable energy potential of 4,500 MW which includes solar (grid connected and roof top), wind biomass and small hydro.
The State has also planned to install solar powered pump sets for agriculture consumers which will benefit 16,000 consumers.
It may be recalled that there are significantly more number of villages which are to be electrified in Chhattisgarh using the off-grid (solar) mode than the grid-based (conventional power supply) mode.
As per the latest data available with the Union Ministry of Power, a total of 543 villages have to be electrified under ‘off-grid’ mode compared to 101 through the conventional power supply grid as on May 31, 2016.
The State has launched a ‘Solar Community Irrigation Project’ for drawing water extracted using solar pumps for supplying to the agricultural land of farmers across the State.
This apart, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has fixed monthly power generation target of 1590 Million Units (MU) for April 2017 for five power stations of Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company ltd (CSPGCl).
The power stations are -- DSPM TPS, Korba-II, Korba-III, Korba West TPS, Marwa TPS, officials informed.
The Chhattisgarh government is targetting 100 per cent household electrification by financial year 2017-18.
Notably, as on March 2015, Chhattisgarh had 63.6 households with electrification rate of 84.5 per cent, officials informed.
The State Government is attaching highest priority to power sector and is committed to provide full support to all utilities for ensuring quality power supply, officials informed.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is expected to add 14,140 MW of additional power generation capacity in its thermal plants between November 2015 to March 2022, according to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in its perspective transmission plan report prepared for 20 years ( 2014-34).
The objective of the plan is to present broad outlines of the requirement of additional transmission system in the Indian grid during the next two decades.
The National Electricity Plan is under preparation u/S 3(4) of the Electricity Act 2003. This Plan would inter-alia give generation capacity addition for period up to 2021-22 based on integrated resource planning requirements for the country.
In the absence of the generation addition programme for 13th Plan period, an estimate was made considering the ongoing and likely capacity addition for the conventional generation projects.
Major high capacity transmission corridors have already been planned and which are under implementation would be sufficient to meet import/export of power among various regions in the year 2021-22.
This is based on the assumptions of load growth and generation capacity addition .
Initially, the High Capacity Corridors from Chhattisgarh and Odisha were planned with reduced reliability due to uncertainties in generation addition by IPPs. The generations which were associated with these high capacity corridors are coming up in phased manner and till now no major constraint is being faced.
However, with the coming up of more generations, additional transmission strengthening may be required to meet the reliability criteria. This would be taken up with firm status of new generation projects.