ANGUL: One of the six units of Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS), which shut down two days back, was restored on Friday.A top TTPS official said efforts are on to restore the other units. As coal supply from MCL mines was stopped, other units could not be restored.
The 460 MW power plant was shut down on Tuesday due to strike by contractual workers. Authorities claimed that the plant was closed due to non-availability of manpower to feed coal to the units. The closure has led to a power crisis in the State. Odisha draws all power generated from TTPS at a very cheap rate since 1995.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan have shot off letters to the Union Minister of State for Power RK Singh for early execution of the expansion project of TTPS.
The lifespan of TTPS, a unit of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), expires on March 31 as per the guidelines of Central Electrical Regulatory Commission. The authorities have completed preparations for the closure and even served notices to all the contractual employees numbering around 2,000.