ASEB signs deal with Ogden

Guwahati, July 11: The Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) has allegedly signed the Lease, Rehabilitation, Operation and Transfer (LROT) agreement on the Bongaigaon Thermal Power Station (BTPS) with the US-based Ogden Energy Incorporate, blocking all ways for preventing the privatisation of BTPS, even as an impression has been given by the State Government that efforts are on to find out a judicious solution to the issue of the privatisation of this public sector coal-based power station. The state government has also been holding parleys with the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) and the Joint Action Committee for the protection of the BTPS (JAC), which have been spearheading an agitation to resist privatisation of the power station. The latest sitting of the Government with the JAC was held on May 3 last at the state secretariat here. But, the chairman of the ASEB who was also present at the discussion that day, allegedly kept mum on the issue of LROT agreement he had signed on January 12 last, said knowledgeable circles here.