Congress MP Rahul Gandhi made an impassioned plea in Parliament for more power (electricity) to the people the other day, one that was quickly drowned out by the amazing spectacle of his parliamentary colleagues waving bags of alleged bribe money in the well of the Lok Sabha.
Gandhi spoke of his meeting with a Kalawati Bandurkar from Vidarbha in Maharashtra during a recent visit there. He referred to the grinding poverty she was living in and how, if there was sufficient electricity, her problems would be mitigated somehow. He was of course referring to nuclear power.
I am one of those who believe that India’s staggering power shortages will neither be resolved or even ameliorated by easily available nuclear fuel or nuclear power. Luckily for the Congress-led coalition, this fact will not come back to bite them for a while. And they can contest the next elections with greater confidence if that’s what the brawl with the Left parties on the nuclear deal has secured them.
I spoke to a senior official from the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) after the deal was announced, among other energy experts. The first fact (and reminder) was that our nuclear plants were running at half their capacity. The second fact and reminder was that India only generates a little over 4,000 Mw of nuclear power or 3 per cent of the total output. We generate more than 12,000 Mw of non-conventional energy, or more than 7.7 per cent of base, in case you didn’t know.
Third, I learnt that the nuclear deal could expedite the fuel for these plants so that they could resume working in full capacity. But, fifth and importantly, this imported fuel would take at least six to nine months or more to materialise, assuming all the inter-agency processes moved swiftly. Sixth, guess what, was that we would not have had a fuel shortage, at least for most of the natural uranium-consuming existing plants, if we had stepped up uranium mining in our own country in time. Precisely the argument the Left too has been making, in calmer times, but that’s another story now.
Anyway, around the time Gandhi was fighting (the din) in Parliament to pitch his nuclear energy solution to Kalawati’s problems, the Maharashtra government sent back land owner relief and rehabilitation proposals (R&R) from Tata Power and Reliance Power for their proposed 1,600 Mw and 4,000 Mw power projects in Raigad district of coastal Maharashtra.
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While most such projects hit land acquisition roadblocks, the two have faced an unusual situation. Both targeted the same patch of land of approximately 3,500 acres and then quarrelled with each other for a while before landing up at the chief minister’s doorstep for arbitration. The government obliged and managed to find a solution, or so it appeared.
Reports in December last year suggested the paperwork was moving. In March this year, the state called the farmers to file their objections, if any. At this point, the land owners refused to negotiate even as protests broke out against the power plants and a special economic zone coming up in the area. Only a few weeks ago did the farmers send in their no-objection letters to the state government, at least for the Tata Power project.
But now, the state government itself has asked for R&R packages because it’s not happy with the current composition. It appears to me that the farmers may not be happy with elements of the compensation package, either. Now, while this could get hammered out in coming weeks, or months, it’s quite possible it may not. And by the way, the formal MoU for the two projects was signed with the state government in April 2005.
So that’s the story of two hanging projects from two of the biggest private power companies in the land. Why these two? Because they are, I believe, for all their struggles, closer to getting off the ground than most other projects around the country. Incidentally, Reliance ADAG has promised commissioning by December 2011. I am sure this date was set recently. I am pretty sure Reliance ADAG might want to push it a little.
The point here is this. If we can’t get two thermal and gas power projects off the ground, despite fair local government backing and clearances in hand, what hope have we for something as tricky as nuclear power? Just to highlight once again, the Nuclear Power Corporation’s own 1,000 Mw plant in Kudankulam, near Kanyakumari, faced stiff local opposition. It’s delayed in any case, for a whole lot of other reasons, which are endemic to all nuclear projects all over the world.
So the thing for Rahul Gandhi and his party colleagues to do would be to see how existing projects on paper and close to ground can be fast tracked, including many in Maharashtra, a state now facing a 5,000 Mw power shortfall. Fast tracking does not mean railroading the local populace but finding alternative spots or, better still, alternative energy. Second and more importantly, they should stop talking of nuclear power like it’s some dream solution. And third, maybe Kalawati’s problems have less to do with electricity and more with other basic necessities. But that too is another story.