Amitabha Sengupta
NEW DELHI/ DHAKA/ AGARTALA, October 14 (TIWN Exclusive): Indian govt did not give any clear-cut statement on 100MW power import from Palatana, from its quota of Tripura within next two years, learnt from a top level sources in Bangladesh Foreign Ministry. On 11th October New Delhi agreed to export 500MW of electricity through the Bheramara-Baharampur Grid line to Bangladesh. In a press briefing to Bangladesh Media on 12th October Bangladesh Power Secretary Monwar Islam told," The decision was taken at the meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee(JCC) in New Delhi . The JCC accepted the technical committee's report and asked the committee to complete the 'route survey' on connectivity , to import power from Palatana by December 2015."
The meeting was held on 9 and 10 October and was chaired by the power secretaries of India and Bangladesh.
From this statement it is clear that there is serious amount of uncertainty about the 100MW power supply to Bangladesh from OTPCs Palatana project. According to Bangladesh Foreign Ministry sources it is learnt that of the eight points agendas of the meeting ,among that major three agendas were:-
1) 100MW power import from Palatana
2) 500 MW power import from India
3) Obtaining access to hydroelectric power produced in Arunachal Pradesh.
Indeed, there is disappointment in Bangladesh about the recent power supply situation from Palatana. A senior most member of Planning Commission of Bangladesh told TIWN on Monday afternoon," We expected much from Indian side, especially about Palatana. Bangladesh allowed its own territory to be used by India to bring heavy machineries required for Palatana. And in return we too expected that India will supply 100MW to Comilla, Bangladesh as was declared by Tripura Chief Minister . But now such declaration seems meaningless. "
It is to be mentioned that in July this year Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar declared that Tripura will supply 100MW to Bangladesh from its quota of Palatana from December this year. But with the recent decision taken in the JCC meeting in New Delhi asking the technical committee to complete the ' route survey' on connectivity to import power from Palatana to Bangladesh by December 2015, it is now obvious that one cannot guarantee about this power supply even during the middle of 2016.
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