6 Sikkim hydel projects put on hold CORRESPONDENT GANGTOK, July 22 – The Centre has frozen six mega hydel power projects with a capacity of 1,047 MW proposed in North Sikkim following an adverse report submitted by Centre of Inter-Disciplinary Studies of Mountains and Hill Environment (CISME).
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had taken the CISME report seriously and derailed the six proposed hydel power projects in North Sikkim, it is learnt.
The State Government has no option but to put the proposed projects in hold following the Centre’s directions to the State Government not to proceed with the construction of the six projects, sources informed.
The projects affected by the Centre’s directive include Teesta Stage I (280 MW), Teesta Stage II (330 MW), Lachen (120 MW), BOP (99 MW), Bimkyong (99 MW) and Lachung (99MW).
Various formalities like land acquisition and survey works by the developers at the six projects have been stopped after the MoEF wrote a terse letter last month suggesting that these projects were unviable citing a study report by CISME which effectively derailed the projects.
Incidentally, the National Hydro Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC) whose Initial Public Offering (IPO) is expected to hit the equity market next month is one of the developers to lose out with its proposed Lachen project (99 MW) being among the six projects affected by the Centre’s directive.
Jackpot: A lottery player has won the biggest single-ticket jackpot in Sikkim, taking home a whopping Rs 2.08 crore.
The person, whose identity has not been known till today, bought a lottery ticket with a combination of six numbers and won the top prize in the nation-wide Sikkim Super Lotto when the draw was held here on July 16. The numbers which won the jackpot are 7, 9, 21, 27, 39 and 49.
The winner will have 30 days to collect the money.
This was the third time a person has won the top prize in Sikkim Super Lotto. Bimal Gajmer and Pravin Kumar Rai had won Rs 8.16 crore and Rs 2. 9 crore respectively.
Director, Sikkim Lotteries CM Sharma said that the claim is yet to be made by the winner and it is difficult to pinpoint as from which region of India the winner comes.
“The winner should make his claim before one month from the date of draw or else it will be disqualified,” Sharma said.
While making clarifications on the delay in payment of the prize money, he said, the recession and the delay in sending the money by the dealers are creating a problem in the payment of the prize money.
