AGARTALA, Aug 20 (TIWN): ONGC’s failure is supplying gas to 101 MW based power plant has turned loss about of 4.4 lakhs every day, said NEEPCO GM.Talking to TIWN correspondent, NEEPCO GM SR Biswas said that NEEPCO is facing loss incurred at Rs. 4.4 lakh each day due to delay in supplying of natural gas by ONGC. Our project is lying idle due to delay in supply of natural gas by the ONGC as per the agreement. The delay has incurred a loss of Rs. 4.4 lakh, he said. On the other hand he also said that Tripura’s Monarchak power plant might supply 101 Megawatt power to Bangladesh at the end of December. The Monarchak power plant would start producing power as soon as the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited start supplying natural gas, according to the agreement. The ONGC was supposed to supply 0.50 MMSCUMD gas to NEEPCO so that 101 MW power could be generated to Bangladesh.

We got  a letter that the ONGC will soon start supplying gas,” an official of NEEPCO said.According to the agreement, the ONGC was about to supply gas on March 3 in 2013. 

But finally, the ONGC starts supplying gas on February 3 in 2015 and later in September, they expressed their inability to continue the service and assured to supply by March 2016. However, he added that the NEEPCO is facing loss incurred at Rs. 4.4 lakh each day due to delay in supplying of natural gas by ONGC.

As the ONGC recently promised to supply gas, it is expected to start power generation in Monarchak plant by the end of December,” he said.

The shutdown of Monarchak is a matter of concern for TSECL. TSECL cannot rely fully on Palatana, they should seriously think about alternate arrangement as Tripura is also transmitting 100 MW power to Bangladesh. The fluency in power generation of 101 MW gas-based thermal projects at Monarchak in Sipahijala district has become uncertain due to some technical faults in the turbines.

The power crisis here in state seems to be a never ending issue. Either, due to lack of maintenance work or lack of gas supply, power generation is continuously hit and the common people are the ultimate sufferer.

Presently all the Power Plants are suffering due to various reasons: whether it would be for maintenance work or insufficient gas supplies. On the other hand Tripura is suffering due to load-shedding, but CM Manik Sarkar kept on promising to supply 100 MW power to Bangladesh.

The project’s foundation stone was laid in March 2002 by Suresh Prabhu, the then power minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the centre.

The environment-friendly project was originally slated to be commissioned in 2005. In 2007, the union power ministry abandoned it for a variety of reasons but work resumed in 2010 thanks to the Tripura government’s pressure.