Enhanced yield:Union Minister of State for Coal, Statistics and Programme implementation (independent charge) Sriprakash Jaiswal dedicating the project to the nation at Neyveli on Monday.
CUDDALORE:
Union Minister of State (Independent charge) for Coal, Statistics and Programme Implementation Sriprakash Jaiswal dedicated the Rs.2,295.93-crore Mine-II expansion project of Neyveli Lignite Corporation to the nation on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion on the NLC campus the Minister said with the commencement of the project the lignite production in Mine-II would go up from 10.5 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes an year and it would also fuel the requirements of the Thermal Power Station-II Expansion (500 MW). It was estimated that the expanded mining area had lignite reserves of 215 million tonnes with a 30-year project life. In appreciation of the efforts put in by the employees and the contract workmen for the completion of the project, the Minister announced a cash award of Rs.3,000 and Rs.1,500 respectively as one-time payment.
Mr. Jaiswal said that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had visualised industries as the symbols of development and catalysts for growth and the NLC had made the vision a reality. The country had achieved a growth rate of 7 to 8 per cent to sustain the momentum and to attain the goal of 10 per cent growth, infrastructure development was a must and in this aspect electricity occupied a primary position. For the growth of the industry and to make power available at affordable cost to all the people the Centre had taken up various steps for augmenting power generation. For instance to bridge the supply-demand gap it had evolved the National Electricity Policy to focus on generation, transmission and distribution to meet the requirements of each and every household.
