Haryana offers NPCIL two sites for setting up n-power plant

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) has offered two sites to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited ( NPCIL) for setting up a second nuclear power plant in the state, even as the process of setting up the first plant is underway.

A team of NPCIL and HPGCL officers will visit these sites -- in Balsamand area of Hisar district and the Kitlana-Nimiriwali-Ajitpur area of Bhiwani district -- on June 23 and June 24 to assess their suitability for setting up the second plant, a spokesman of HPGCL said here today.

Quoting NPCIL Mumbai Executive Director Nalinish Nagaich, the spokesman said that during the visit, the NPCIL team wishes to collect certain details regarding the availability of water, cropping patterns, power evacuation arrangements and the distance from the nearest railway head in order to proceed further.

The spokesman said during December, 2010, HPGCL carried out a preliminary survey of these sites and found them to be suitable for being recommended to NPCIL.

He also informed that the land owners of Balsamand village, through their panchayat, submitted a memorandum to the Haryana Chief Minister in April, 2011, expressing their willingness to sell around 18,000 acres of land for the purpose of setting up a power project so as to ensure the development of the village and surrounding areas.

Giving further details, he said NPCIL is already in the process of acquiring land for setting up the first nuclear power plant in Haryana at Gorakhpur, in Fatehabad district.

"During August, 2010, NPCIL had expressed willingness to set up another nuclear plant in Haryana in view of the proactive response of the state in execution of preliminary activities relating to the Gorakhpur project.

"Considering the deficit power scenario in the state in the years to come, the Haryana government in March, 2011, had approved the proposal for setting up a second nuclear power plant in the state," he said.

He also said that during April, 2011, a team of senior officers of NPCIL Mumbai had visited Panchkula to launch an awareness drive to highlight the benefits and safety aspects of nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan.