The Chhattisgarh Government has decided to pay compensation to owners of the land acquired for the erection of power transmission lines in excess of 132 KV capacity power transmission. The Revenue Department officials said that the power transmission lines will be laid to transfer power from the power generating stations to the grid. There was no provision previously to pay compensation for land acquired for laying of transmission lines.
Revenue Minister Prem Prakash Pandey said that an order has been issued to this effect from the Mantralaya. He said that 50 per cent of the market rate will be given as compensation to the land owner. The State Government keeping in view the losses suffered and sensitive nature of the issue has decided to pay compensation to the land owners.
Notably, Chhattisgarh has established a total of 88 very High Tension (HT) Power Sub-centres with a development of a massive network of more than 10,000 kms of HT power lines. Notably, during the formation of the State, there were only 27 very High Tension lines, officials stated. The State since its foundation was aware of the fact that without sufficient power availability, development is impossible. Accordingly, the Energy policies of State were formulated and executed, officials stated.
As a result, presently Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company limited (CSPGCl) has attained production capacity of 2424.7 MW which in the year 2000 was 1360 MW, officials stated. With increased production the power distribution has also seen huge expansion. Moreover, as long as 1.36 lakh kilometre increase has been registered in the power supply lines of different capacity during the last 11 years in Chhattisgarh.
Since the formation of the State, about 1.50 lakh kilometre extension has so far been made in different capacity power lines in the State, officials stated. The Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl) officers said that with the addition of these lines, the total length of power lines in the State has reached to 2,54,721 kms. Out of this, 1,54,311-km is of low Tension (lT) and 83,311-km 11 kV capacity line and 17,384 km 33 kV capacity lines. At the time of formation of the State, the total capacity of power lines was 1,04,858 km.
Along with the extension of power supply lines, rural electrification has also been speeded up. The percentage of rural electrification in 2001 was 90.71, which now has increased to 97.39 per cent. From December 2003 to July 31, 2014, electrification of 1,154 villages has been done. Electrification of 446 villages has been done through conventional and 706 villages through non-conventional methods by Chhattisgarh State Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA).
Along with the extension of power supply lines, rural electrification has also been speeded up. The percentage of rural electrification in 2001 was 90.71, which now has increased to 97.39 per cent. From December 2003 to July 31, 2014, electrification of 1,154 villages has been done. Electrification of 446 villages has been done through conventional and 706 villages through non-conventional methods by CREDA.