Strike cripples workers at DVC Mejia plant

Strike cripples workers at DVC Mejia plant

Sunday, 25 Oct 2009

It is reported that the ongoing strike by workers employed by contractors at Damodar Valley Corporation’s Mejia plant brought down the generation at the plant to one third on Friday.

Located in Bankura district of West Bengal the Mejia plant is DVC’s largest thermal power plant. The drop in generation is expected to create 100 MW shortfall in peak power supply in the State. West Bengal gets a share of the generation by the central power utility.

Sources in DVC said that out of a total capacity of 1340 MW by six units, the Mejia plant, located approximately 150 km from Kolkata, was producing approximately 360 MW from two units on Friday. The generation was hit as the agitating unions were not allowing coal supplies to the plant.

The strike has been called by CITU and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh led unions demanding wages higher than the State Government prescribed minimum wages for industrial workers. The INTUC led union, which initially supported the strike, opted out of it at a later stage.

According to sources, DVC has outsourced various operations of the power plant including coal handling, electrical maintenance, instrumentation maintenance, cleaning and so on to a number of contractors. As part of the contract agreement, DVC ensures that the workers employed by these contractors are paid the stipulated minimum wage of INR 126 a day plus medical, house rent and other allowances.

A source told Business Line that “The CITU and BMS led unions at Mejia are demanding a minimum wage of INR 187 a day in line with payments made to some temporary workers in our old units in Jharkhand. However, while such temporary workers are not offered any allowances, the unions at Mejia want the allowances too adding that efforts to resolve the differences through dialogue failed at a series of meetings mediated by the State Labour Commissioner’s office.”

DVC has reportedly made it clear that it would follow the State prescribed norms in fixing minimum wages for such workers employed by the contractors.

A DVC source said that “We may force contractors to offer higher wages provided the State Government amends its laws accordingly.”

(Sourced from Business Line)

Technology boost for power

Technology boost for power

22 Oct 2009, 0219 hrs IST, ET Bureau

It’s welcome that there is improved focus — albeit belated — on new technology and cutting-edge equipment in a policy-deficit sector like power, characterised by routine revenue leakage in the key area of distribution.

Reports say that power producers NTPC and DVC would soon invite bids for a series of super-critical boilers and turbines, for revved up thermal efficiency. The idea, of course, is to boost power output, with little or no increase in the fuel input.

It would improve our energy efficiency levels, reduce the relative price of power and very substantially increase energy availability too. An added bonus of increased diffusion of super-critical boilers in thermal plants would be the sustained decrease, in relative terms, of emissions of green-house gases. Super-critical boilers do increase thermal efficiency by up to a third or more, as compared to sub-critical boilers.

It implies added power generation, but without proportionate increase in, say, coal combustion. It means being concurrently energy efficient and environment friendly. So there’s no contradiction involved in aiming to shore up thermal efficiency levels and in the process tackling climate change, given the power-investment backlog. The NTPC and DVC bids require that domestic manufacturing of the boilers be made mandatory, in stages. We need to fastforward adoption of clean-coal technologies.

It is notable that the technology adoption in power is taking place over a wide range. The Centre, for example, has identified five new sites for new nuclear-power plants, to be built with Russian, French and US collaboration. The state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation has chalked out long-term plans for a quantum jump in generation capacity.

And the Centre reportedly plans to have an ambitious 20,000 mw of solar power capacity — or about a fifth of today’s conventional generation capacity — by 2020. What’s needed is concrete policy action and follow through, to actualise the plans. In tandem, what’s surely warranted is to clamp down on theft and reckless give-aways in the state power sector. Otherwise, the moribund finances of power utilities would short-circuit modernisation.

CIL to buy equipment worth $2 bn in 5 years

CIL to buy equipment worth $2 bn in 5 years

17 Oct 2009, 0102 hrs IST, ET Bureau

KOLKATA: Coal India (CIL) will procure spares and equipment worth $2 billion from the overseas market in the next five years. This will mainly be procured to beef up production levels by 175 million tonne, and take up at least 134 greenfield mining projects.

Confirming the development, CIL chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya said: “We intend to increase production capacity by as much as 35 mt every year over the next five years. This will require sourcing equipment from overseas — equipment that is not manufactured in India. The cumulative value is expected to be about $2 billion over the next five years.”

Going by the target, CIL is slated to touch a total production level of 570 mt by the end of the next five years. “To achieve this, we have to source high capacity open cast mining equipment, including high capacity dumpers, shovels and dredgers for mines. All these are not manufactured in the domestic market. A part of the procurement will also go into replacing existing old equipment,” said a senior CIL official.

Incidentally, CIL’s effort to take over the ailing Durgapur-based Mining and Allied Machineries Corporation (MAMC) is yet to fructify. The proposal was taken up to start manufacturing underground mining equipment at the plant since there are no established makers as on date.

Once, MAMC’s debts are waived by the Centre, CIL and its partners, including Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), will be able to manufacture open cast mining equipment, too. “It will help substitute imported equipment for both open cast as well as underground mines. However, we are still waiting for the government’s clearance,” said NC Jha, director technical at CIL.

“Since MAMC is a BIFR case, the joint takeover proposal by BEML, CIL and DVC to take over the firm will now have to be passed by the high court, following which needs to be cleared by the Cabinet. BEML intends to take 48% in the company, while CIL and DVC will take 26% each,” said a CIL official.

Incidentally, MAMC owed the West Bengal government about Rs 100 crore, which has already been waived. Central dues stand at about Rs 1,200 crore, and will require a Cabinet clearance.

NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) are likely to float on Friday global tenders worth over Rs 25,000 crore

NTPC may float Rs 25,000cr tender

16 Oct 2009, 0333 hrs IST, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: State-owned power generation companies NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) are likely to float on Friday global tenders worth over Rs 25,000 crore for sourcing supercritical power equipment for five power plants, a power ministry official told ET.

The proposal, which has already been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, requires the successful bidders to also gradually shift production to India, setting in motion the government’s initiative to encourage domestic manufacturing of the energy efficient power equipment. The equipment would kick-start five power projects across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, setting in motion investment of about Rs 40,000 crore.

According to the official, who refused to be named, the power utilities would jointly invite international competitive bids (ICB) for bulk supply of super-critical power equipment for 11 units of 660 MW each. The tender

terms have a clause making domestic manufacturing mandatory in stages.

So far five companies—BHEL, L&T-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) combine, Alstom-Bharat Forge, Toshiba-JSW and Italian company Ansaldo Caldie—have expressed their interest in participating in the bulk tender for supercritical equipment. The government, however, expects participation from even Chinese, Russian and a few East European companies.

Out of the 11 supercritical units, nine would be used by NTPC for its projects while two will be used by DVC. It has been decided that NTPC would invite two separate international competitive bids (ICB)—one for all boilers and the second for steam turbine generator (STG) islands—instead of a single common boiler-turbine-generator (BTG) bulk package.

Super-critical power generation equipment for Damodar Valley Corp. (DVC)

New Delhi: India’s efforts to generate clean power, and do so more efficiently, could get a fillip with state-owned power generation utility NTPC Ltd getting ready to issue a Rs40,000 crore tender for the supply of so-called super-critical power generation equipment for its proposed projects and those of Damodar Valley Corp. (DVC). on 18 October.

Super critical equipment, apart from being environment-friendly, help increase plant efficiencies.

The order, the largest such single one, will be for the supply of 11 boilers and 11 turbines of 660MW each. Bids will be opened by January 2010 and the orders will be placed by April next year. Of these, nine units will be for NTPC and two for DVC.

“We plan to issue the notice inviting tenders on 18 October. While the power ministry’s approval has already been received, we are waiting for the Central Vigilance Commission’s approval,” said a senior NTPC executive who did not want to be identified.

CVC oversees the functioning of government agencies and state-owned companies. The cabinet committee on infrastructure has already given its approval to the tender, which should bring some cheer to the capital goods industry and the power sector.

The order will be placed through international bidding, with a stipulation that the winner set up manufacturing facilities in the country.

The bid formula will work thus: the lowest bidder for boilers will be given an order for six units. If Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) is the lowest bidder, it gets the order for six units. If it is not, the government will still award it the order for the remaining five units (of the 11), provided it agrees to match the lowest bid. If Bhel does not match the bid, an option will be given to others in the order of bid ranking. A similar system will be followed while ordering for the turbines.

A second NTPC executive, who also declined to be identified, confirmed the plan for bid award process and said, “the bid documents have been finalized.”

Mint had reported on 16 June that the government’s agenda for its first 100 days in office that ended 29 August included this proposal.

Analysts Mint spoke termed the order a significant one and described it as part of India’s attempt to launch a super-critical power programme along the lines of similar efforts in the US, Japan, Germany, Korea and Russia.

Apart from Bhel, private sector consortia expected to participate in the tender include Toshiba Corp. of Japan along with JSW Group; Ansaldo Caldaie SpA of Italy and GB Engineering Enterprises Pvt. Ltd; and Larsen and Toubro Ltd and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd of Japan.

“It (the order) is important for equipment manufacturers such as L&T, Toshiba and others who are entering the sector. Bhel stands to gain as there is an assurance of a minium order,” said Madanagopal R., an equity research analyst at Mumbai-based brokerage Centrum Broking Pvt. Ltd

After the Bengal government, it is the turn of the DVC to face the heat over land acquisition

ADRA (PURULIA): After the Bengal government, it is the turn of the DVC to face the heat over land acquisition. Hundreds of villagers living on either side of the Bengal-Jharkhand border have launched an agitation demanding proper compensation and jobs for the families of those who had to give up their land for the Panchet dam 56 years ago.

The villagers have been sitting on a dharna since October 2 in front of the administrative building of DVC in Panchet. The agitation is being carried out under the banner of DVC Khotigrosto Sangram Samiti. Trinamool Congress and JMM have reportedly decided to extend moral support to the movement.

In 1953, 34,000 acres of land spread over villages in Bengal and Bihar (now Jharkhand) were acquired for the dam. Around 73,650 families living in over 100 villages 30-35 in Bengal were affected.

Basudeb Mallick, a resident of Santalpur in Dhanbad and secretary of the samiti, said: "The affected families had been told that they would be compensated, but nothing has happened."

Sraban Singha of Raibandh village in Nituria block of Purulia said they have asked the DVC management to open a dialogue with them by October 11. If the authorities fail to do so, the protesters will disrupt work at the dam, he warned.

Animesh Mukherjee, chief engineer of DVC's Panchet project, said the corporation had given jobs to 4,862 affected villagers in the 1950s. Then, in 1977, a compensation package was announced and jobs were given to another 102 people. "If the villagers have valid documents, they should approach the SDO with their claims," he added.

CPM MP Basudeb Acharya had raised the issue in Parliament and urged DVC to employ the kin of those affected. Charan Bauri, a JMM leader in Nituria, said many of the landless are now too old to work. "How much can they be compensated after so many decades?" he asked. Trinamool's S P Yadav echoed his views.

Amendment to Tariff Policy

MINISTRY OF POWER-GOI

RESOLUTION

F.No.23/2/2005-R&R(Vol.IV) – In this Ministry’s Resolution F.No.

23/2/2005-R&R(Vol.III) dated 6th January, 2006 published in the Gazette of

India (Extraordinary), Part I, Section 1, notifying the Tariff Policy under the

provisions of Section 3 of the Electricity Act, 2003, the following

amendment is hereby made:

The following proviso is added at the end of Para 5.1 of the Tariff

Policy:

“Provided that a developer, of a hydroelectric project, not being a

State controlled/ owned company, would have the option of getting the tariff

determined by the appropriate Commission on the basis of performance

based cost of service regulations if the following conditions are fulfilled:

a) The appropriate Commission is satisfied that the project site has been

allotted to the developer by the concerned State Government after following

a transparent two stage process. The first stage should be for prequalification

on the basis of criteria such as financial strength as measured by networth,

past experience of developing infrastructure projects of similar size, past

track record of developing projects on time and within estimated costs,

turnover and ability to meet performance guarantee etc. In the second stage,

bids are to be called on the basis of only one single quantifiable parameter,

such as, free power in excess of 13%, equity participation offered to the

State Government, or upfront payment etc.

b) Projects of more than 100 MW design capacity for which sites have

been awarded earlier by following a transparent process and on the basis of

predetermined set of criteria would also be covered in this dispensation.

c) Concurrence of CEA (if required under Section 8 of the Act),

financial closure, award of work and long term PPA (of more than 35 Years)

of the capacity specified in (d) below with distribution licensees are

completed by 31.12.2010.

d) Long term PPA would be at least for 60% of the total saleable design

energy. However, this figure of 60% would get enhanced by 5% for delay

of every six months in commissioning of the last unit of the project against

the scheduled date approved by the Appropriate Commission before

commencement of the construction. The time period for commissioning of

all the units of the project shall be four years from the date of approval of the

commissioning schedule by the Appropriate Commission. However, the

Appropriate Commission may, after recording reasons in writing, fix longer

time period for large storage projects and run-off-the river projects of more

than 500 MW capacity. Adherence to the agreed timelines to achieve the

fixed commissioning schedule shall be verified through independent third

party verification.

e) Award of contracts for supply of equipment and construction of the

project, either through a turnkey or through well defined packages, are done

on the basis of international competitive bidding.

In cases, where the conditions mentioned above at (a) to (e) are

fulfilled, the Appropriate Commission shall determine tariff ensuring the

following:

(i) Any expenditure incurred or committed to be incurred by the project

developer for getting project site allotted (except free power up to 13%)

would neither be included in the project cost, nor any such expenditure shall

be passed through tariff.

(ii) The project cost shall include the

- cost of the approved R&R plan of the Project which shall be in

conformity with the following:

(a) the National Rehabilitation & Resettlement Policy

currently in force;

(b) the R&R package as enclosed at appendix; and

- the cost of project developers’ 10% contribution towards

RGGVY project in the affected area as per the project report

sanctioned by the Ministry of Power.

(iii) Annual fixed charges shall be taken pro-rate to the saleable design

energy tied up on the basis of long term PPAs with respect to total saleable

design energy. The total saleable design energy shall be arrived at by

deducting the following from the design energy at the bus bar:

a) 13% of free power (12% for the host Government and 1% for

contribution towards Local Area Development Fund as

constituted by the State Government). This 12% free power

may be suitably staggered as decided by the State Government

b) Energy corresponding to 100 units of electricity to be provided

free of cost every month to every Project Affected Family

notified by the State Government to be offered through the

concerned distribution licensee in the designated resettlement

area/ projects area for a period of ten years from the date of

commissioning”.

I.C.P. KESHARI, Jt. Secretary.

APPENDIX

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE APPROVED R&R PROVISIONS

FOR HYDRO POWER PROJECTS

1. SCOPE OF COVERAGE

The following provisions shall be applicable even if one family is

affected by the development of a Hydro Power Project.

2. DEFINITION OF PROJECT AFFECTED FAMILIES (PAFs)

A Project Affected Family (PAF) shall mean a family whose place of

residence or other property, or source of livelihood has been affected

by the development of a hydro project and who have been residing in

the affected zone for two years preceding the date of declaration of

notification under Section-4 of the LA Act. The affected family

would also include squatters.

3. DEFINITION OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURER

A person normally residing in the affected zone for two years

preceding the date of declaration of the affected zone and earns

his/her livelihood principally by manual labour on agricultural land.

4. DEFINITION OF NON AGRICULTURAL LABOURER

A person normally residing in the affected zone for two years

preceding the date of declaration of the affected zone and who does

not hold any land in the affected zone but earns his/ her livelihood

principally by manual labour or as rural artisan or a service provider

to the community.

5. DEFINITION OF SQUATTERS

A family occupying Government land in the affected zone without a

legal title, at least for 5 years prior to the date of declaration of

notification under Section-4 of L.A. Act.

6. REHABILITATION / RESETTLEMENT COLONIES

This policy aims to provide built up houses to Project Affected

Families (PAFs) who get displaced due to the development of hydro

projects to the extent possible. However, wherever opted for, liberal

House Construction Allowance would be given in lieu.

7. TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING

This policy also emphasizes the need to provide training to the Project

Affected Families as well as to the local population for a sustained

livelihood. Special training programmes from ITIs aimed at providing

the required skills to the local population would be undertaken by the

Project developers at least six months prior to commencement of

construction. This is expected to boost the employability of the PAFs

and other people residing in the vicinity of the project.

8. ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS

This policy envisages additional provisions for Project Affected

Families such as:

o scholarships for meritorious students,

o extension of medical facilities,

o marriage grants,

o subsistence grants,

o support for income generation schemes for cooperative and self help

groups,

o seed, pesticides and fertilizer subsidies, and irrigation support.

Besides the additional provisions mentioned above, the normally

applicable provisions of the National Policy on Rehabilitation and

resettlement, currently in force, would be applicable.

***