Barwala (Hisar), May 19
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda that the Centre would ensure supply of gas and coal for all thermal power plants that might come up in Haryana in the coming years.
Addressing a public meeting here after laying the foundation stone of a 1200 MW thermal power plant at Khedar village, about 10 km from here, he said a coal block would soon be reserved for the proposed plant in Jhajjar district to help Haryana boost generation to meet its requirements.
He said during his visit to Panipat sometime ago, he had announced that a nuclear power plant would be set up in Haryana. He had been informed that the government had already selected a site in Fatehabad district, adding that work on this project would begin soon.
Referring to Kissau and Renuka projects, he said these could only be finalised after talks with other states and efforts were afoot to resolve all pending issues to facilitate necessary approvals.
He revealed that he had summoned a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss ways for tiding over the power crisis.
Singh said he was aware that because of lack of water resources, Haryana was using half of its available power for agriculture and subsidies to this sector were to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore a year.
At the same time, he appealed to consumers to ensure payment of power bills so that the state could give them adequate power.
He announced that Hisar would be developed as a magnet town under the National Capital Region plans. He said several new national highways would be built in Haryana in the coming years to quicken the pace of development.
The Chief Minister said when he took over, the power scenario was very bad. However, things were looking up now and he would fulfil his promise to
make Haryana self-sufficient in power by 2010.
Hooda demanded that an Indian Institute of Technology and an Indian Institute of Management should be set up in Haryana.
At present, the state lacked any of the prestigious institutions.
He announced that a government college would be set up in Barwala and the health centre would get a grant of Rs 20 lakh.
Earlier, after laying the foundation stone of the thermal power plant at Khedar, the Prime Minister took a round of an exhibition arranged by Haryana power utilities after laying the foundation stone of the thermal power plant.
The Prime Minister also launched the Edusat system linking Haryana schools.
