TIRUPATI: After an ambitious start, the much-hyped NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Limited (NBPPL) at Mannavaram stumbled in the last six years. With indications trickling in about the project being shifted out of Andhra Pradesh or further investments being halted, there is palpable concern among the job aspirants, while the Opposition parties have raised a hue and cry.
In 2009, the plant involving a huge outlay of Rs. 6000 crore was expected to be a major source of employment for Chittoor and Nellore districts as it was the major Central project sanctioned to the State 25 years after the Vizag steel plant. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the project in 2010, exactly a year after the demise of the then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. The State also allotted 800 acres of precious land abutting the hills on Chittoor-Nellore border at a throwaway price for the project. Having got stuck in bottlenecks and red tape, the project fell flat in execution. After six long years, the project has made little headway, with a paltry investment of less than 5 per cent of the proposed amount flowing in. It was only recently that the Union Government removed the company’s Managing Director for his continued stay in Delhi and not relocating to the plant site.
Former Member of Parliament Chinta Mohan staged a dharna at Yerpedu on Thursday, protesting the ‘deliberate neglect’ of the projects brought during the Congress regime. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu showered promises of jobs, but by slow-pedalling Mannavaram, they smashed the dreams of the youth,” he lamented.
Similarly, CPI national Secretary K. Narayana also smelt a rat and pointed to indications about the plant being moved out of the State. “After backtracking from special status to package, the Centre is again doing injustice by shelving a project expected to provide 25,000 indirect jobs”, he said, warning of serious protest if the project was not taken forward.
