Choti choti batyen of NKSTPP - I

 

Choti choti batyen of NKSTPP                  

NKSTPP – North Karanpura Super Thermal Power Project, which is a small village near Tandwa, Jharkhand. Few tea stalls, fewer cloth stores, few medicine shop, few utensil shops and a Police thana is what comprises of Tandwa city. Since the progress of the plant halted due to many land acquisition issues compounded by politically opportunistic hegemony, the city Tandwa too remained miniscule over the last 22 years. However, the new management is now geared up with top level governmental support to commission the first 660 MW unit of NKSTPP. It has been seen time and again that once the cheap & reliable NTPC power starts flowing, the nearby areas grow beyond imagination. See it at Singrauli, Korba, Vindhyachal or at Ramagundam. Everywhere it’s the same story repeated many times.

Evolution from Temporary Townships to Enabling Townships to Permanent Townships [TTS to ETS to PTS] : In a typical NTPC site, the township life first starts with a small temporary townships where the first batch of arrival holes up during the night time. That’s the very formative days of any NTPC township at the beginning. During daytime they manage several unknown & never-faced-before issues to set up the gigantic power plants which over the last four decades have become the icon of Indian Power scenarios. However, at the end of the day when they just can’t pull anymore, they take rest in the temporary townships where a guest house and a dining complex is also set up promptly to take care for a square meal for these tired bunch of engineers and artisans.

In the evening the small TT area used to blast up with life. As more engineers return from field , the dining complex become the center of evening celebrations.

                        However, as the power plant starts taking shape out of nowhere so is the PTs [Permanent Township] starts dotting house by house over a very big area. A big manmade lake is also created to enamor the PTs life. In less than couple of years the first unit becomes commercialized, the sustainable generation of electricity starts, and the once blazing & blasting life of TT moves to the PT. Over time the TT becomes empty and sometimes devoid of life. At many places those quarters are given away to the associates like contractors, teachers, and district officers.

Today the concept has been further renewed. The structures in the TT are now purely temporary in nature – made of fiber and plastics. So that it will be razed to ground once the purpose is over. The name of TT is now modified to ET – Enabling Township.  So is the earlier horizontally spread PT is now grown up rather vertically in a smaller area with a few G+8 tall towers. The beautifully decorated lake is also missing in many places.

However, apart from the changes of the physical world of township, the NTPC culture remains same and old as it was that day. The young, fun loving bunch of engineers blast the evenings of the ETS of the NKTPP the same way as it used to be done decades back during our time in SSTPP, KSTPP, VSTPP or in SSTPP…

The culture remains the same.

Strikes, strikes & strikes: Is a very common part of NKSTPP life known to almost anyone. For reason or no_reason strikes are called by the drop of a coin. The progress of the plant has been halted many times for all these 22 years! Therefore, for all these years people here, have been denied the taste of a substantially comfortable life around NTPC plant. The chemist, the grocers, the tailor, the sweet vendor, the hair dresser, the carpenter, even the vegetable vendor of any NTPC township earns a decent livelihood. Everything of which is denied here by these group of dishonest people having vested interests. Nonetheless every NTPC plant creates thousands of ancillary services which ultimately spills down to a very thriving social ecosystem. The schools create brilliant students to boast off by any standards of anywhere of India. As time moves on even big restaurant chains, glittering super markets and car companies starts appearing over the horizons. The disposable income starts growing, so is the cost of living around a typical NTPC townships and that’s the real sign of development!

But all these have been denied to the people here for such a long time.

However, I am a believer of God, I hope with the present leadership & new initiatives all those things are past now. For NKSTPP no look back now and only march ahead for a new dawn with a new ray of hope for mankind.

S. Bera

NKSTPP  / 30.04.2022

… to be continued