PATNA: Bihar will urge the Centre to make the state a partner in the hydel power projects of Bhutan and give permission to take equity stake in them so that the power-starved state can get assured power from the neighbouring country.
This was stated by chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday after his return from the four-day official visit of Bhutan. “We will raise this matter with the government of India and central agencies engaged in power generation. We demand that Bihar should get 1500MW power from Bhutan’s projects,” he told the media at the airport after alighting from the state aircraft which brought the delegation from Hasimara in Jalpaiguri situated on Indo-Bhutan border.
Nitish said he visited Bhutan to see the work on 1200MW hydel power plant at Puna Psangchhu and was impressed with the pace of work in the mountains. He expressed hope that it would be completed on time. He also visited the power plants at Chukha and Tala, from where Bihar gets 300MW.
“All these are run-of-the-river hydel projects and the upcoming plants will have the capacity to generate 30,000MW,” the CM said. He further said if Nepal also developed hydel power projects, the Himalayan kingdom can generate as much as 1 lakh MW of power.
Nitish said the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, has accepted his invitation to visit Bihar with the queen after his wedding. The CM extended the invitation to him when he met the monarch in Thimphu on Thursday.
He was all praise for the people of Bhutan and said every Bhutanese has a desire to visit Bodh Gaya at least once. The King told Nitish that this year, after the bumper crop, when he asked farmers what were they planning, they expressed their desire to visit Bodh Gaya. “Some farmers said they had already visited Bodh Gaya but wanted to visit it again for another good crop,” Nitish quoted the king as telling him.
The CM said Bhutan is the most trusted friend of India and the mutual relations are based on cooperation and understanding. Terming his visit as very useful, Nitish said he met several dignitaries and people and all of them have great regard for Bihar.
The king, he said, explained to him the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which takes care of education, culture and environment. “If a country like Bhutan can make happiness the basis for its overall growth, why cannot Bihar with the concept of development with justice,” he said.
The CM was highly impressed with the preservation of culture and protection of environment in Bhutan, which has 72% forest cover and has preserved trees even on the mountains. “Environment must be preserved here too for a sense of happiness,” he said.