Union Minister for Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal lauded the efforts of NLCIL management and employees for their contribution towards growth of the organisation. | Photo Credit: Handout_E_Mail more-in Union Minister for Finance, Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal on Thursday inaugurated three 100-MW solar power projects erected at Virudhunagar and Tirunelveli districts. The solar power projects erected at Thoppalaakkarai and Sethupuram in Virudhunagar district and Sellaiya Sezhiyanallur in Tirunelveli district, with an installed capacity of 100 MW each, were dedicated to the nation by the Minister in the presence of S. K. Acharya, NLCIL CMD. The projects were erected at a cost of ? 1,302 crore, which include operation and maintenance cost for 15 years. The power produced from the units would be given to Tamil Nadu Power Generation and Distribution Company (Tangedco) at a cost of ?4.41 per unit. Mr. Goyal, in his inaugural address, lauded the efforts of NLCIL management, employees and trade unions for the growth of the organisation with a new vision. Lauding the CSR initiatives of the organisation, the Minister appealed to the management to come up with new innovative initiatives such as providing free Wi Fi to the rural masses, low cost sanitary napkins for women and emotionally empowering deprived senior citizens “to ensure a technologically, hygienically and culturally motivated society.” Later, in his presence, a memorandum of understanding was signed by NLCIL and Anna University to erect a pilot project on solar drying of lignite, in order to increase its caloric value from 2,700 Kcal to 4,350 Kcal. The MOU was signed by V. Manoharan, General Manager, Centre for Applied Research and Development, NLCIL, Neyveli, and S. Ganesan, Registrar, Anna University, Chennai. The cost of the pilot project is estimated at ? 2.69 crore. Rakesh Kumar, Director (Finance), Subir Das, Director (Mines), V. Thangapandian, Director (Power), R. Vikraman, Director (HR), Nathella Nagamohana Rao, Special Project Officer, NLCIL, Soorappa, Vice Chancellor, Anna University, senior officials and employees from NLCIL participated.

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