The Ministry of Forests and Environment has agreed to expand the Rokhia Thermal Power Project.
Tripura Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath made such a claim after a meeting with Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav.
Nath said that the Tripura government wants to increase the current production of Rokhia Thermal Power Project from 63 MW to 120 MW. Financial support from Asian Development Bank has also been received in this regard.
According to him, during the previous Left Front government, complications have arisen due to non-obtainment of permission from the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment in the production of Rokhia Thermal Power Project.
He said that despite the sincere efforts of the Center and Tripura government, the power generation capacity of Rokhia could not be increased.
On this day, he expressed hope that within the next few months, the permission of the Ministry of Forest and Environment can be obtained for the Rokhia thermal power project.
The Minister of Power said that he had taken a final decision in this regard in a meeting with the officials of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment. According to the source the state may have to pay some penalty.
It may be noted that until the construction of the last unit of Rokhia in 2013, the then Left Front government did not take the approval of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment, and as per the rules of the Ministry, the state government was forced to pay a huge fine.
Even the process of increasing the production of Rokhia is stalled due to lack of clearance from the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment.
The power minister also said that this problem is going to be solved soon with the help of Union Forest and Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav.
