No detailed survey before land acquisition for Marwa thermal plant: CAG.

Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company did not conduct a detailed survey nor did it verify revenue records before land acquisition for a thermal power station at Marwa in Korba district, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said. The CAG report on PSUs for the year ended March 31, 2018, was tabled in the Legislative Assembly recently by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

Performance audit of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Thermal Power Station, Marwa revealed that as per the DPR (Detailed Project Report), 80 per cent land was barren, the CAG said.

"However, the Company neither conducted a detailed survey nor verified the revenue records of land to assess the nature of land. The Company acquired a total 1,728.73 acre land out of which only 283.77 acre (16.41 per cent) land was barren and remaining 1,444.96 acre (83.59 per cent) was agricultural land," it said.

As a result, 15 Rehabilitation and Resettlement issues, protest by land oustees and strikes took place which hampered the project work, it added.

The report further pointed out that the consultant approved design for in-motion weigh bridge for 52 kg/mtr rail against the requirement of 60 kg/mtr rail. Due to mismatch in specifications, it could not be commissioned till May 2019.

Consequently, coal lost in transit against procured coal worth Rs. 1,681.52 crore could not be assessed during the period 2016-17 to 2018-19, it said.

Unit 1 and 2 were commissioned with a delay of 42 and 44 months, respectively, the CAG noted.

This resulted in generation loss of 16,440.07 million units (MUs) amounting to Rs. 4,438.82 crore and avoidable procurement of power of Rs. 315.92 crore at higher rates by Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company, it said.

The CAG report also underlined poor operational performance of the plant and the non-compliance of environmental norms.

The 1000-MW power plant was commissioned in 2016.

ET