UDAIPUR / AGARTALA, May 30 (TIWN): The entire state which is under power crunch due to PGT at Palatana will be breathing sigh of relief soon. According to highly placed TIWN sources, performance guarantee test (PGT) of Palatana power plant unit -I is reportedly complete, Unit will be operational from today mid night.

The power plant was placed under shut down from May 17 mid night for a week but  the work could not be completed within the schedule time as BHEL detected some faults in the unit – I.  Due to suspension of power generation from Palatana plant, acute power crunch for more than a fortnight has thrown life out of gear in Tripura and Barak Valley areas of Assam.

To cope the power crunch across the state, Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) is purchasing additional power from other parts of the country like NPCC and NTC. TSEL sources said that despite purchase of additional power at present the power deficit stand at 55 MW in Tripura during peak hour. As a result, load shedding for more than one and half hours continue across the state.  

Meanwhile, ONGC completed checking of 53 km long pipeline supplying gas to Palatana power plant. An official of ONGC said engineers have successfully serviced the pipeline, cyclone separator and replaced 14 valves. The pipe line is ready to supply gas to the plant.