NEW DELHI, 31 Mar: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein along with the advisor to the government of Arunachal Pradesh Hari Krishna Paliwal, called on union power minister RK Singh, on Friday to discuss about the hydropower projects in the state that are to be now undertaken by Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) including, NHPC, NEEPCO, SJVN and THDC.
They discussed about the fourteen major hydropower projects in the state, which did not register visible progress till date. Of these projects, five of them had their allotment to private developers cancelled due to a lack of progress; whereas eight projects registered very limited progress that could not be substantiated with much significance and also about the Demwe Lower Hydropower Project which is pending in NCLT.
During discussion, DCM elaborated on state government’s expectations and commitment pertaining to these projects and highlighted the need to expedite their development.
After a lengthy process of transferring these projects from private developers to the CPSUs, a final stage has almost been reached, as the state cabinet granted approval to the Memorandums of Agreement (MoA) with the CPSUs during the recent cabinet meeting held in Itanagar this week. The signing of the respective MoAs is scheduled to take place next month.
Union power minister commended the progress made by the state government so far in this direction and expressed his desire to personally visit Arunachal Pradesh to witness the signing of MoAs.
He further emphasized that the commencement of these projects will lead to the overall development of the state in the form of infrastructure, social and economic upliftment, and will open up many opportunities for the local people.
During the meeting, Singh also added that the development of hydropower in the state will result in a substantial rise in the income generation of the people, eventually.
The union minister also gave assurance of the central government’s full support in the successful implementation of these projects which are to be undertaken by the CPSUs.
