Pradhan writes to Odisha CM to speed up project clearance.

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan has pointed to the delay in approvals for infrastructure projects in Odisha despite the supposed ‘single window clearance.’

In a letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Pradhan has quoted the example of NTPC’s proposed Rs. 24,000-crore power plant that is yet to get approvals from the State government.

Pradhan said: “The PSU is proposing to set up an additional state of the art, latest environmental norms compliant power station of 1320 MW at the existing location of NTPC, Talcher. The NTPC board on September 10, 2018 has approved Rs. 9785 crore investment for the project. The project has obtained land, water, environmental and other statutory clearances.”

“But, being a large project it requires project clearance by High Level Committee (HLC) of the State government. Unfortunately, NTPC is still awaiting approval of the HLC despite applying online for Single Window Clearance on April 19, 2017.”

HBL