Ailing Hindustan Cables may help National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) which is facing the problem of land acquisition for its proposed power project in Bengal's Katwa.Hindustan Cables Limited has offered almost 973 acres near Asansol to the power major for setting up a thermal power plant.Hind Cables has already written a formal letter to NTPC and two officials from the power generators visited the site which was found to be ideal for such plant.National Thermal Power Corporation is now looking to set up two thermal power generation units of 660 MW at the location offered by Hindustan Cables.
This could come as good news for the power generation major which is reeling under land availability issue, with the Mamata Banerjee government not too keen on land acquisition on behalf of National Thermal Power Corporation.The power major has asked for some 1,100 acres for a 1,320 MW power station at Katwa. Hind Cables owns a jelly filled cable manufacturing unit there which is now lying shut for the past several years.
The site of Hindustan Cables is located some 22 km away from Asansol near the Ajay river and some 60 km from Maithon dam. It is also about a kilometer away from railway linkage.
Asansol, being located on the coal belt of Bengal, is ideal to set up two units of 660 MW thermal power units.
Two senior officials from National Thermal Power Corporation have already made a recce of the Rupnarayanpur factory of Hindustan Cables.
"There will be no outright sale of the land at Rupnarayanpur. If at all something transpires finally then the land will be transferred to NTPC since it is another government organisation. The ministry of heavy industries will hand over the land to ministry of power.
HCL comes under the purview of ministry of heavy industries," explained Amitava Sarkar, general manager (personnel) of Hind Cables. The NTPC officials also took with them a detailed drawing of the Rupnarayanpur factory.The NTPC officials are also expected to submit a detailed report to the technical committee of the corporation. Saddled with a burden of accumulated losses of over Rs 900 crore, Hind Cables has been trying for long to revive."There is no production at three of our factories in Rupnarayanpur, Naini and Hyderabad as there are no orders. We need a revival plan for Hindustan Cables," said Sarkar. While Rupnarayanpur factory employs 1,100 people, the Naini and Hyderabad factories employ 250 and 900 people, respectively.
The workers do not get their salaries on time due to the impending cash crunch situation. According to recent reports, Hindustan Cables has been served a wind-up notice by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.
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