Power cut

At a recent meet, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said it was often difficult to achieve generation targets for a variety of reasons, pointing to the cancellation of NTPC’s 600 Mw Loharinag hydro project in Jharkhand as evidence. Somebody on the dais sympathetically added that the cancellation was the result of environmental concerns. But “environment” has become such a touchy issue in government that Shinde testily denied this, saying, “It’s not due to the environment. I know what environment is.” Yet on Friday the project was cancelled following a group of ministers meeting on environment and religious concerns.