Patna, (Bihar Times): The Central Bureau of
Investigation is probing into the award of contract to
a Russian firm for constructing the Stage-I of 660 x 3
MW unit NTPC’s Super Thermal Power Plant in Barh,
about 60 km east of Patna.
According to the Union Minister of State for Power and
Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, the Russian company named
Techno Promp Exports was assigned to complete Stage-I
of the plant. But the firm breached the terms and
conditions by using the services of its Indian agent
without declaring its name in the bid form. Besides,
the CBI also detected murky dealing in Russian firm
getting the contract.
The foundation stone of plant was laid first on March
4, 1999 and then again on September 12, 2001 when the
present chief minister, Nitish Kumar, was the railway
minister in the Vajpayee cabinet. Now Ramesh, who
visited Barh on Sunday, told Press that the Barh plant
had become a hot potato.
