Kolkata, Dec. 4 -- Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced at a rally in Berhampore that Bengal's largest 660 MW supercritical thermal power plant has been completed at Sagardighi and will become operational on December 10.
The project, she said, will generate employment for 2,000 people. Banerjee said the state has spent Rs 4,567 crore on setting up the new unit, which will supply electricity to 16.70 lakh families. She added that it is East India's first supercritical power unit and is expected to create a total of 26,000 direct and indirect jobs.
In a post on X, the Trinamool Congress said the project had been realised "through the visionary leadership of Smt @MamataOfficial," calling it a milestone for infrastructure, energy security and job creation in the state.
Addressing the rally, the Chief Minister also spoke about severe erosion caused by the Bhagirathi river in Malda and Murshidabad, which she said has submerged around 12,116 bighas of land.
Banerjee alleged that despite commitments made during the signing of the Farakka treaty-under which the Centre was to take up erosion control, carry out dredging at Farakka and provide Rs 700 crore to the state-none of these obligations had been fulfilled.
She said the state had submitted a Rs 1,500-crore plan to the Centre to address the erosion problem but had received no response.
"Despite this, we have completed 189 projects in Murshidabad worth Rs 900 crore, including six embankment projects in Samserganj and Dhulian at a cost of Rs 96 crore. We have also allotted Rs 200 crore for construction of embankments," Banerjee said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.