Put Gidderbaha project under PSPCL: Engineers
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 10
The PSEB Engineers’ Association has shot off a letter to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal stating that the decision of the government to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to set up a 2,640 MW coal-based power project at Gidderbaha at Rs 15,000 crore has been taken in haste and non-transparent manner.

Association president HS Bedi, in a letter to the CM, has demanded for scrapping of this MoU and to assign the project to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for execution under state sector. The association has announced that if required they would launch an agitation on this crucial issue.

The association representatives pointed out in the letter that while the state government was claiming that Punjab would get 50 per cent power from Gidderbaha Thermal Project (GTP), whereas in the MoU, it has been mentioned that proposal will be subject to the final approval of the Centre. “The power will be sold to the state at the rates approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and it is an established fact that power from plants established on MoU basis is costlier than that awarded through competitive bidding,” mentioned the letter, a copy of which is with The Tribune.

Speaking to TNS, Bedi said the allocation of GTP to NTPC would further reduce the state sector share in the total power generation capacity. The state has direct control on only 3,620-MW, which is 52 per cent of the total present power generation capacity of 6,900 MW.

“By awarding 2,640 MW Gidderbaha Thermal Project to the NTPC, the share of the state sector in total power generation capacity will be reduced to 19 per cent,” he claimed, while adding that in case of execution of the project under state sector, 100 per cent power generated from GTP would be earmarked for the state.

Association General Secretary Bhupinder Singh pointed out that almost all progressive states in the country were executing power generation plants by investing equity from its resources. “Under state sector, Maharashtra has planned power generation capacity enhancement by 7,800 MW, Andhra Pradesh (11,000 MW), Rajasthan (8,000 MW), Haryana (1,710 MW), Gujarat (1,700 MW) and Karnataka (5,900 MW), but unfortunately the state has no plan for setting up the power generation plants under the state sector,” he said.