Himachal govt turns down Jaypee Groups plea for power incentive

The Himachal Pradesh government has rejected the plea of the Jaypee Group to grant incentives under the states power policy to hydro-power producers for early commissioning of the 1,200 MW Karcham Wangtoo hydel project in Kinnaur district in August.

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The Himachal Pradesh government has rejected the plea of the Jaypee Group to grant incentives under the states power policy to hydro-power producers for early commissioning of the 1,200 MW Karcham Wangtoo hydel project in Kinnaur district in August.

The company,instead,will face action for not informing the government about its capacity enhancement from 900 MW to 1,200 MW an issue which the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had raised with the government some months ago. The project,which even earlier was under scanner for flouting environment norms and raising an apple orchard at the land acquired for the project,will be required to pay a higher share of free power against 12 per cent as per rules. The power policy allows an increase in capacity up to 20 per cent on fulfilling certain conditions.

But in case of Karcham Wangtoo,the sanctioned allotted capacity was 900 MW,which the company disputes and says is 1,000 MW. At this cost,the company could have gone up to 1100 MW. However,the CEA has found that the company had ordered 300 MW generating machines instead of the approved 250 MW for the project, said a power department official.

As per the MoU signed in 1993,the original capacity was fixed at 900 MW. Next,while signing the implementation agreement in 1998,the capacity was raised to 1,000 MW. The power companies are required to pay an upfront premium at the rate of Rs 20 lakh power MW for the increase and with additional three per cent free power as royalty if the enhancement is more than 20 per cent. Moreover,the company unilaterally wrote to the government for staking its claim to the incentive under the power policy,saying that it had commissioned the project 66 days before schedule. So,instead of 12 per cent free power,it should be exempted to supply only 11.6 per cent.

Principal Secretary (Power) Deepak Sanan confirmed the companys claim but added that they will nor be allowed any incentive. We are in the process of sending them a notice for increasing the capacity, he added.

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Himachal govt turns down Jaypee Groups plea for power incentive

The Himachal Pradesh government has rejected the plea of the Jaypee Group to grant incentives under the states power policy to hydro-power producers for early commissioning of the 1,200 MW Karcham Wangtoo hydel project in Kinnaur district in August.

Himachal govt turns down Jaypee Groups plea for power incentive

The Himachal Pradesh government has rejected the plea of the Jaypee Group to grant incentives under the states power policy to hydro-power producers for early commissioning of the 1,200 MW Karcham Wangtoo hydel project in Kinnaur district in August.