Unit II of GNDTP shut again
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 7
The unit-II of local Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) stopped generating electricity yet again after its generating transformer got burnt and suffered irrevocable damages on May 5.

It may be noted that various parts of the generating transformer were changed at the cost of lakhs after it developed a snag in the third week of April 2011. Interestingly, the generating transformer kept developing snags despite the fact that it remained shut for a full month of March, 2011 on the account of annual maintenance.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that the repeated shutting down of the unit-II in the past two months had caused huge financial loss to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

A senior functionary of the PSPCL, seeking anonymity, said the organisation had been suffering a loss to the tune of about Rs one crore daily on account of non-production of electricity. He said the market value of the generating transformer runs into crores. He said a probe by an independent agency could reveal the reasons behind the repeated shutting down of the unit-II in the past few months.

Meanwhile, K Lal, chief engineer, GNDTP denied that the generating transformer had got burnt. He claimed that as the life span of the generating transformer had expired, therefore it was being replaced. He said the authorities concerned had already purchased a generating transformer for the unit-II few years ago. He said the work of replacing the old generating transformer would be completed within a week and the unit would start producing electricity soon.

However, the chief engineer refused to answer the queries as to why the generating transformer was not replaced when the unit was shut for its annual maintenance and why was it being replaced now when the demand of power was increasing in agriculture and domestic sectors.

It is learnt that the unit-II had been troubling the authorities concerned even as crores had been spent on its renovation and modernisation (R and M) carried out in 2006.