Business

Hundreds of crores spent in 23 years, yet NTPC Tandwa project’s future uncertain

Published

4 years ago

March 10, 2022

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Hundreds of crores have been spent in the last 23 years on setting up the National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) power plant at Tandwa in Jharkhand’s Chatra district, but till date no electricity has been generated from it.

Preparations were underway to start power generation from the first unit of the plant this month itself, but it seems unlikely due to a violent clash between the locals, whose properties were acquired for setting up the plant, and the police on March 7.

The agitated locals set ablaze 56 small and big vehicles deployed at the plant and vandalised the offices. A total of 27 people were injured from both sides in the clashes between the police and the agitating displaced people.

After the violent confrontation, the situation in the project and the surrounding areas are tense. The administration has imposed prohibitory orders in six villages affected by the project.

So far, seven people have been arrested in connection with the violence. Also, an FIR has been registered against 100 named and 800 unidentified persons.

Police are conducting flag marches in the areas around the project ever since the incident. However, 60 per cent of the staff are not coming to the office.

In such a situation, it is almost certain that the proposed trial of the first unit of the plant in March would be postponed.

The project, ever since its foundation stone was laid in 1999, has remained in disputes. People, whose properties were acquired for setting up the plant, have been holding protests for the last two decades raising demands such as financial compensation, rehabilitation and jobs.

On March 6, 1999, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had laid its foundation stone and people were hoping that a new chapter of development would begin in the area, which is infamous for Naxalism and backwardness. The target was to make the plant operational by 2002-2003.

Three units of the power plant are being installed here, aiming to produce 1,980 MW of electricity. And it was scheduled that the trial of the first unit, having the capacity of 660 MW, would commence in March 2022.

Equipped with modern technology, for the first time in the country, the thermal power plant is being established using the air-cooled condenser system technology that would bring down the water consumption to just 25 per cent.

With the completion of the project, apart from Jharkhand, electricity would also be supplied to Bihar, Odisha, Bengal and Northeast.

For the project, the land was mainly acquired from six villages and at that time the old law of land acquisition was in force.

Meanwhile, the government made a new law regarding land acquisition, wherein there is a provision that if the project for which the land has been acquired does not get started within five years, then the land will be returned to the farmers.

When the work of the project started after seven years due to delay in land acquisition and several other reasons, disputes erupted over compensation, rehabilitation, jobs to the affected. The work of the project continued to be affected due to dharnas, demonstrations, agitations.

In the last 23 years, there have been more than one hundred confrontations between the NTPC Management, Administration, Police and displaced persons. Also there were numerous incidents of firing, lathi charge and violence.

There were several agreements between NTPC, the administration and the villagers, but the dispute was never fully resolved.

In the meantime, compensation has been paid to most of the ryot or displaced persons. However, the project continued at a slow pace amid the regular interruptions.

About a year and a half ago, the dispute regarding the compensation for the acquired land erupted again. The organisation of the displaced locals started the agitation, saying the compensation received earlier was inadequate.

They intalled tents in front of the main gate of the NTPC project and have been continuously staging a sit-in for the last 14 months.

A senior official at NTPC says that the ryots from whom the land was acquired were given compensation in 2015 itself. “There is no such law that compensation should be given again for the same land. It’s just not possible.”

The agitating farmers have three main demands.

The first is that they should be paid compensation at the rate of Rs 20 lakh per acre and the ryots who have not been paid the compensation should be paid at the new rate along with interest.

The second demand is “each displaced family should be given a uniform rehabilitation package as presently the amount is being given to the people of different areas at different rates”.

Similarly their third demand is “Compensation in lieu of missing raiyati land, Gairmajarua Khas land, and houses, trees, ponds and wells situated on that land; 75 per cent grant to displaced ryots in NTPC-run schemes, and employment for every displaced family in NTPC”.

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HDFC Bank shares fall over 1 pc as US law firms launch securities probe

Published

13 hours ago

July 24, 2026

Mumbai Press

New Delhi, July 24: Shares of India’s largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, fell more than 1 per cent in early trade on Friday after three US law firms announced separate investigations into whether the bank may have violated federal securities laws.

The investigations were announced by the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, the Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz and Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter through separate press releases.

According to the law firms, the investigations are focused on whether HDFC Bank and certain of its executives made materially misleading statements or failed to disclose information relevant to investors, potentially violating US federal securities laws.

The probes stem from a May 27 report by The Indian Express — which alleged that HDFC Bank made payments of about Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million or around $4.7 million) to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to attract large institutional deposits.

The report also alleged that the payments were booked as marketing expenses and that the bank’s Chief Executive Officer was aware of them.

According to the law firms, HDFC Bank’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) fell $1.02, or 4.1 per cent, to close at $23.78 on May 27 following the publication of the report.

The firms have invited investors who suffered losses in HDFC Bank ADRs to contact them and share relevant information as they assess whether there are sufficient grounds to pursue securities-related claims.

However, no securities class action lawsuit has been filed against HDFC Bank at this stage. The investigations are preliminary and are intended to determine whether legal action is warranted.

However, the lender has not issued any statement on the matter to the stock exchanges — the NSE and the BSE — till 10:30 am.

On Friday, HDFC Bank shares fell as much as 1.44 per cent during early trade on the BSE. The stock has declined more than 25 per cent over the past one year, nearly 20 per cent in the last six months, and around 25 per cent so far this calendar year.

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Business

IndusInd Bank shares tumble over 6 pc after Q1 results

Published

1 day ago

July 23, 2026

Mumbai Press

New Delhi, July 23: Shares of private sector banking stock IndusInd Bank fell more than 6 per cent in early trade on Thursday after the bank posted its June quarter earnings.

The banking stock plunged as much as 6.29 per cent to 1002.50, hitting an intraday low of Rs 1,002.50 on the BSE at around 11:50 am.

At the last count, the stock was trading at Rs 1,006.75, a decrease of 5.90 per cent.

The selling pressure in the banking stock came after the private lender reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,037.05 crore for the first quarter of FY27 on Wednesday, compared with Rs 604.07 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The earnings were supported by a 21 per cent decline in provisions and contingencies, which stood at Rs 1,384 crore.

The lender’s net interest income (NII) rose 1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,685 crore, while its gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio improved to 3.25 per cent. Gross slippages also declined to Rs 1,660 crore from Rs 2,567 crore a year ago.

Earlier in June, the bank witnessed selling pressure after reports claimed a complaint seeking an investigation into alleged insider trading, governance lapses, and audit shortcomings at the bank.

The selling pressure in shares followed reports suggesting that a whistleblower had approached multiple authorities — including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) and other agencies.

According to them, the complaint alleged insider trading, manipulation of financial records, evergreening of microfinance loans, suppression of audit findings and attempts by senior management and board members to conceal irregularities.

Additionally, the stock has touched a 52-week high of Rs 1,077.80 and a 52-week low of Rs 710.85 on Thursday on the BSE.

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Business

Indian Railways records sharp decline in accidents, safety budget hiked 3-fold

Published

2 days ago

July 22, 2026

Mumbai Press

New Delhi, July 22: There has been a sharp decline in train accidents in the country over the last 12 years as a result of the high priority being accorded to safety on Indian Railways.

The annual budgetary allocation for safety has shot up more than three-fold from Rs 39,200 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,20,389 crore in 2026-27, the Centre told the Parliament on Wednesday.

The number of “consequential accidents” came down from 135 in 2014-15 to 16 in 2025-26 and only two accidents have been reported in 2026-27 till June this year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha.

“The causes of the accidents that took place over Indian Railways broadly include track defects, locomotive or coach defects, equipment failures, human errors, etc. Rail safety has now been strengthened through modern technology, infrastructure and enhanced maintenance. As many as 6,671 stations have been equipped with electronic interlocking and complete track circuiting while 10,395 level crossing gates have also been brought under the interlocking system to minimise human errors,” Union Minister Vaishnaw noted.

Complete track circuiting of these railway stations has been undertaken to enhance safety by verification of track occupancy by electrical means.

Detailed instructions on issues related with safety of signalling, for example, mandatory correspondence check, alteration work protocol, preparation of completion drawing, etc. have been issued.

The Indian Railways has added 36,429 track kilometres during 2014–26, which is more than 2.5 times higher than 2004–14 which has enhanced track safety.

Modernisation of rolling stock and maintenance practices strengthens safety, with LHB coach production rising more than 21 times to 49,366 during 2014–26 and weld failures reduced by 93 per cent.

The indigenously developed Kavach 4.0 safety system has been successfully commissioned on 2,490 route kilometres covering the high-density Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah routes.

Kavach implementation work is also under progress on 21,937 route kilometres, with installation being taken up on 7,435 locomotives and 1,200 EMU/MEMU trains.

The amount utilised for Kavach works so far up to June 2026 is Rs 3874.9 crore.

The allocation of funds during the year 2026-27 is Rs 2066.24 crore.

Requisite funds are made available as per the progress of works.

In reply to another query, Union Minister Vaishnaw said that at present, recruitment against 1,61,889 vacancies of non-gazetted personnel has been taken up on Indian Railways as per annual calendar 2024, 2025 and 2026.

During January to December 2024, ten Centralised Employment Notifications for 92,116 vacancies were notified for filling up of posts of Assistant Loco Pilots, technicians, Sub-Inspectors, Constables in Railway Protection Force (RPF), Junior Engineers, Depot Material Superintendent, Chemical and Metallurgical Assistant, Paramedical Categories, Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate), Non-Technical Popular Categories (Under-Graduate), Ministerial and Isolated Categories and Level-1 categories such as Assistants, Track Maintainers and Pointsman.

First stage/Single stage Computer Based Tests for 92,116 posts have been completed.

“During 2026-2027 (up to June 30, 2026) panels for more than 3,300 candidates for various posts, including the posts of Technicians, Junior Engineers, Paramedical Categories, Ministerial and Isolated categories and Assistant Loco Pilots have been finalised. Majority of them are in safety categories,” Union Minister added.

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