New captive power policy shortsighted

VADODARA, Nov 24: Terming the State Government's newly announced Captive Power Policy (CPP) as shortsighted, the Federation of Gujarat Indus...

VADODARA, Nov 24: Terming the State Government’s newly announced Captive Power Policy (CPP) as shortsighted, the Federation of Gujarat Industries (FGI) has urged Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel to allow industries and group companies to use the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) network, regardless of having generating capacity of 5 MW.

As per the policy, only industries and group companies having a minimum of 5 MW generation can utilise the GEB network.

In the letter on Tuesday, FGI president Rakesh Agrawal regretted that despite the country being a fore-runner in the co-operative sector, the government had made no provision for those wanting to set up power plants with less than 5 MW generation capacity.

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Stating that the policy was framed considering the board’s present surplus power, Agrawal has pointed out that it was only a short term phenomenon because of slump in industrial growth, due to recession and low agricultural demand because of good rains.

Claiming that the Federation was not interested in making power generation their business, Agrawal said industrialists generated power only because the power supply was unreliable.

Demanding that the industries also be allowed to bank power, Agrawal has stated that the wheeling charges were exorbitant, as the industries had also to bear the expenses of setting up the power plant.

The RJD’s key face and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tejashwi Yadav, party supremo Lalu Yadav’s son, will again contest from his stronghold Raghopur.

Amid Mahagathbandhan crisis, RJD unveils list of 143, drops 36 MLAs, focuses on ‘M-Y’

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The RJD, lead player of the Mahagathbandhan, released its full list of 143 candidates for the November Bihar Assembly elections. Its key face Tejashwi Yadav will contest from Raghopur, and 41 sitting MLAs have been renominated. The party has dropped 36 sitting MLAs and fielded young leaders, signaling a bid to consolidate its core Muslim-Yadav vote base. The Congress has fielded 60 candidates.

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