DVC officers' forum alleges vilification campaign

Kolkata, Dec 30: The officers' forum of power producer Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) Wednesday alleged that a "vilification exercise" was on against the company.

"It has been observed for quite some time that various vilification exercises are being carried out against the DVC and its executives and management with the ulterior motive of destabilising DVC by tarnishing its image," S.K. Singh, general secretary, DVC Officers' Forum, told reporters at a media meet here.

Claiming that some "vested interest groups" did not want the DVC to grow, Singh said the vilification campaign was hampering the ongoing construction work being carried out by the company and also affecting employees' morale.

"The government and the public at large are being misled through incomplete information. Some vested interests do not want DVC to grow," he said.

The official said the image of the company would take a hit before investors if its chairman Subrata Biswas was removed.

"We are afraid that such act of maligning and removal of the chairman will affect the image of the company in front our investors and we will not be able to meet the deadline of our present projects," Singh said.

DVC's current generation capacity is 2,854 megawatt (MW) and it wants to reach 10,000 MW by 2012.

DVC plans to have a second generation unit at Raghunathpur of 1,320 MW capacity by the end of the 12th plan period (2012-17).

This apart, Maithon Power Ltd, a 26:74 joint venture of DVC with Tata Power Co Ltd is executing a 1,050-MW project at a cost of Rs.4,450 crore. The first unit of 525 MW is expected to be commissioned by October 2010, and the second one by March 2011.

DVC is a three-way venture between the union government and the state governments of West Bengal and Jharkhand.

The power producer would be supplying 2,500 MW for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi in 2010.