An armed contingent of 130 personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) took over the security of the country’s first ultra-super critical thermal power plant in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone district, officials said. The paramilitary force will provide the facility located in the district village of Selda, about 320 kms from the state capital Bhopal, with counter-terror protection.
The coal-based thermal power plant was commissioned in August last year and is operated by the NTPC.
A senior CISF officer said, “A contingent of 130 armed CISF personnel led by a Deputy Commandant rank officer will guard the power plant. A formal induction ceremony took place at the site.”
As per NTPC, the plant is “the country’s first ultra-super critical unit having capacity of 660 MW. This plant operates at efficiency of 41.5% which is 3.3% higher than the conventional super-critical ones.”
“The high efficiency will result in less coal consumption for generating the same amount of electricity vis-a-vis supercritical plants and will result in reduction of 3.3% carbon dioxide emissions,” the NTPC said, describing the profile of the power unit.
The force will have round-the-clock security in a Quick Response Team (QRT) system as part of which commando-trained workers will keep a watchful eye on the facility’s vantage points using advanced assault weapons and will have vehicles for rapid movement. We will ensure terror threats to the power plant are kept at bay and prevent any kind of attack or sabotage on the facility, they said. It is Madhya Pradesh ‘s fifth power sector unit that has come under the security cover of the CISF.
The CISF, whose strength is approximately 1,62 lakh personnel, is the primary federal force providing armed security cover for sensitive government and private domain installations in the country, apart from being the national civil aviation defense agency.
