Why UPA is keen to woo Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
The approval of a new ultra-mega power plant for Bihar is yet another
pointer to the UPA's keenness to woo Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar <em>Photo: Shekhar Ghosh</em>
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the Power Finance Corporation have 'in principle' approved the setting up of a 4,000 MW ultra-mega power plant (UMPP) at Kakwara in Banka district, Bihar. Such a plant was one of the prime demands of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to meet the state's growing need for power.
When the plant will start generation is anybody's guess. The Centre is yet to finalise the bidding documents, only after which the auction of licences to build not only this UMPP, but also others similarly sanctioned in Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, will be held. Again, though the CEA has linked the proposed Bihar UMPP to the Rajmahal coal fields in Jharkhand for its coal supply, the Jharkhand government has repeatedly made it clear it is not willing to sell coal to Bihar, because of unresolved inter-state disputes between the two. (Jharkhand was carved out of erstwhile Bihar in 2000.) Even so, the power ministry's gesture is an indication of the flux national politics is currently in.
Nitish Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United) rules the state in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But the relationship between the two parties has been under strain ever since moves to nominate BJP's Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the alliance's prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 General elections began. Kumar can ill-afford to be seen supporting Modi, as this will drive away the bulk of his substantial Muslim support in the state. At the same time the Congress, in power at the Centre, has seen its own allies in Bihar - the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party - fare miserably in the last two elections, both won resoundingly by Kumar.
So, is the Congress trying to woo Kumar into its own United Progressive Alliance fold? In his recent Budget speech too, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram reaffirmed the Centre's commitment to Nalanda University in Bihar, as well as pledged to continue the special assistance to the state.
Kumar, in turn, unusual for an Opposition leader, praised Chidambaram's Budget. Bihar badly needs power. Its per capita annual consumption of electricity is around 100 kilowatt hours (kWh) against the national average of about 700 kWh. This is primarily due to limited installed capacity in the state, of around 540 megawatts (of which, less than half is available) as well as low allocation from the Central pool. Poor power availability has been hampering Chief Minister Kumar's efforts to build better infrastructure and improve the state's human development indices.
The site of the proposed UMPP has been finalised and will not require displacement of people, CEA officials revealed. "We have some issues relating to use of water and have asked the state government to get back to us on this," says one of them.
When the plant will start generation is anybody's guess. The Centre is yet to finalise the bidding documents, only after which the auction of licences to build not only this UMPP, but also others similarly sanctioned in Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, will be held. Again, though the CEA has linked the proposed Bihar UMPP to the Rajmahal coal fields in Jharkhand for its coal supply, the Jharkhand government has repeatedly made it clear it is not willing to sell coal to Bihar, because of unresolved inter-state disputes between the two. (Jharkhand was carved out of erstwhile Bihar in 2000.) Even so, the power ministry's gesture is an indication of the flux national politics is currently in.
Bihar needs power badly. Its per capita annual power consumption is 100 kwh. The national average is 700 kwh.
So, is the Congress trying to woo Kumar into its own United Progressive Alliance fold? In his recent Budget speech too, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram reaffirmed the Centre's commitment to Nalanda University in Bihar, as well as pledged to continue the special assistance to the state.
Kumar, in turn, unusual for an Opposition leader, praised Chidambaram's Budget. Bihar badly needs power. Its per capita annual consumption of electricity is around 100 kilowatt hours (kWh) against the national average of about 700 kWh. This is primarily due to limited installed capacity in the state, of around 540 megawatts (of which, less than half is available) as well as low allocation from the Central pool. Poor power availability has been hampering Chief Minister Kumar's efforts to build better infrastructure and improve the state's human development indices.
The site of the proposed UMPP has been finalised and will not require displacement of people, CEA officials revealed. "We have some issues relating to use of water and have asked the state government to get back to us on this," says one of them.
