Tripura hopes to supply power via Bangladesh

Tripura will soon be supplying surplus power from two of its projects to the rest of India through Bangladesh.

The state has asked the centre to persuade the Bangladesh government to evolve a mechanism for this.

State-owned ONGC's 726 MW plant in Palatana in south Tripura has begun generating electricity from its first unit and by June, would be at its full capacity.

Also, state-run North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) is setting up a 104 MW gas-based project at Monarchak in western Tripura that would start generating power by this year-end.
"To evacuate the power from Tripura to the national grid at Bongaigaon in western Assam to transmit electricity to various northeastern states, drawing the transmission lines through hilly terrains and forests is an uphill task," said Tripura Power Minister Manik Dey.

"To overcome the electricity transmission problems, it would be much easier to send out power to the other parts of India via Bangladesh. We have asked the central government to talk to the Bangladesh government to evolve a mechanism in this regard.

"The central government is studying the matter," Dey added.