Security costs add to woes of power projects in Northeast india

Review Loktak security, Delhi told
ROOPAK GOSWAMI
Guwahati, May 8: The North Eastern Regional Power Committee has requested the Union ministry of home affairs to review the decision to replace CRPF with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at Loktak power station in Manipur.

The NHPC had requested the committee to take up the issue with the ministry of home affairs as the deployment of the CISF jawans is an expensive affair.

Sources said according to the decision taken by ministry of home affairs, the CRPF jawans deployed at Loktak power station were being withdrawn and the CISF were to be inducted for its security henceforth.

According to the survey conducted by the CISF, around 795 personnel were required for the security of the power station as intimated by the director-general of the CISF, vide its letter on March 4.

On January 1, 1977, the Loktak project, with an installed capacity of 105MW (3x35), was transferred to NHPC Limited. The Loktak power station is supplying power to Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura.

At present, five companies of the CRPF are deployed on the Loktak power station premises.

Sources said the decision to replace CRPF would pose a serious threat to the operation of the power station as handing over the security of the project to CISF, which is not equipped for anti-insurgency operations, would create panic.

It will be extremely difficult to operate the power station, the source said.

The CRPF jawans stay in the surplus barracks and as such the power station was not incurring any expenditure towards security. However, by deploying CISF, the power station will have to bear the burden of around Rs 28 crore per annum towards recurring and non-recurring expenditure for deployment of the 795 personnel. The NHPC also has to meet infrastructure expenditure like construction of buildings, modern security gadgets, office automation and others.

“This would inflate the operation cost adversely and will lead to increase tariff of the power station,” the source said.

The North Eastern Regional Power Committee is the apex power organisation in the Northeast which co-ordinates planning of maintenance of generating machines of various generating companies of the region, including inter-state generating companies supplying electricity to the region on an annual basis. It also undertakes review of maintenance programme on a monthly basis. The committee evolves a consensus on all issues related to economy and efficiency of the operation of the power system in the region.

EOM