kolkata: The state government is taking a move to sell out the unused plots of Durgapur Projects Limited (DPL) to use the generated revenue for revival of the loss making utility.
Sources said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed the state power minister Aroop Biswas to handover files related to the same to Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi. She also gave necessary direction to the state Public Works Department minister Moloy Ghatak in this connection. There are unused plots owned by DPL in Howrah, Hooghly and Burdwan. Many of these plots are even getting encroached. In such a situation the state government is marching ahead to sell out the plots so that the utility can be revived.
A study to calculate such unused land of DPL was already carried out during the second term of Trinamool Congress government. The same study would be used now to further proceed to ensure generation of revenue for revival of DPL.
On November 27 in 2017, the state cabinet had given its nod to bring DPL as subsidiaries under the West Bengal State Electricity Board to revive the same. The state government had also engaged a Group of Ministers (GoM), Partha Chatterjee, Amit Mitra, Malay Ghatak, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay and Arrop Biswas - to assess and recommend steps that are necessary for revival of DPL. A restructuring plan for DPL was also finalised and it was also sent to the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) for its approval. It was proposed to divide the utility into three parts. The transmission will be taken up by WBSETCL and distribution will be looked after by West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL).