PM Modi lays foundation of Patratu Super Thermal Power Project

Shashank Shekhar

Baliapur (Dhanbad) : Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone  for the 2,400 MW first phase of NTPC’s Patratu Super Thermal Power Project in Jharkhand. The project is a 74: 26 Joint Venture between Government of Jharkhand (GoJ) and Patratu Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. (PVUN), a subsidiary company of NTPC, establishing a total capacity expansion of 4,000 MW.

Showering praise on Jharkhand terming it ‘ land of brave  Martyrs Birsa Munda and Jaipal Singh Munda ‘ and ‘dream land’ of  former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, PM Narendra Modi on May 25, 2018 said that ‘black diamond coal’ was playing major role in development and progress of the nation while the state was galloping ahead to become one of the most developed states of the country under  the leadership of CM Raghubar Das. Modi was addressing a gathering of more than 20,000 people at  Baliapur (Sindri), about 14 km away from Dhanbad city around 3.50 pm on May 25 when the temperature was over 40 degrees Celsius.

Earlier, laying foundation stones  of 5 mega projects in Jharkhand worth more than Rs 27,000 which includes  mega power plant at Patratu (Ramgarh) worth more than Rs 18,668 crores, restructuring and restart of Sindri Fertilizer Plant worth Rs 7,000 crores, establishment of All India Institute of Medical  Science  at Deoghar (worth  Rs 1,103 crores), new airport at Deoghar worth  Rs 441 crores besides domestic LPG pipeline project, PM  Modi said that he is moving ahead to fulfill his promise he made to voters of Jharkhand in 2014 before state assembly polls when he came to seek vote.

“When I came to campaign  in 2014 during assembly election, I asked you to give  your vote  to the BJP to have double engine ( union and state  governments –one at Delhi and another in Ranchi) for faster development  of state and have today I have come to give you all this to Jharkhand comes in the form of 5 mega projects.

“After I became the Prime minister, electrification has been done in 18,000 villages and our next target is to  go for electrification of 4 crores houses which is progressing at faster pace and the coming Patratu super power plant will not only meet the power need of the state but even give massive employment. Let me tell you that  second  green revolution will soon be witnessed in the country and it will be seen now in  eastern  India in which urea  fertilizer will play a major role with Sindri fertilizer plant coming handy,” PM Modi said.

” The NDA governments at centre and in Jharkhand are doing their best for empowerment of poor including tribal and schedule castes and with  foundation stone of five mega projects laid today, you all can imagine where will this state reach once all these projects come on the ground,” stated PM Modi praising the crowd for braving the scorching heat .

Besides the Prime minister, chief minister Raghubar Das, union Union Minister of State (I/C) Power and New & Renewable Energy R K Singh, Union Minister od State for Health  Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Union Minister of state for Tribal Development Sudrashan Bhagat, MP PN Singh  besides  several state ministers were present on the occasion.

NTPC’s PVUNL is set to develop the Patratu Super Thermal Power Project in Jharkhand in two phases: 2,400 MW (3x800MW) in Phase-I and 1,600 MW (2×800 MW) in Phase-II, which will be developed later. This project will allocate 85 per cent of the power to Jharkhand that will benefit the state in the long run and help in the economic growth of the region. Under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) scheme, this project will ensure providing 24×7 power availability to the households.

The project has salient features of Dry Ash disposable system (second to NTPC Dadri), zero liquid discharge system, Air-cooled condenser technology (only second to North Karanpura STPP) and rail loading facility for transportation of ash. The Engineering, Procurement & Construction contract of the project has been awarded to BHEL. The commissioning of the first unit is envisaged in 2022 and subsequently the other two units after an interval of six months each from the preceding unit.