Govt selling state's interests, allege PSEB engineers' body

BATHINDA:
HT Correspondent

SEE PLOT TO CREATE MONOPOLY OF PRIVATE PLAYERS IN STATE ENERGY SECTOR; THREATEN TO EXPOSE IT

Charging the state government with plotting to create private-sector monopoly in future electricity generation at the cost of common man, the PSEB Engineers Association has threatened to expose the design.
“The association will expose the government's lopsided, anticonsumer policies by bringing out a white paper,“ the association president, HS Bedi, said on Saturday in Bathinda. “The government has handed over the power to create all future thermal-energy plants to private sector, and thereby encouraged monopoly.“

The engineers charged the management of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) with ignoring the importance of creating stateowned thermal-power units.

“Monopolist private players in the energy sector will exploit consumers,“ said Bedi. The PSPCL meets 52% of the state's energy demand from own capacity and the rest from the Central-sector allocation and electricity purchased from private players. “Commissioning new plants in the private sector without adding to generation in the state sector will decline the PSPCL share in energy-creation to less than 19%, which will be inadequate to operate the grid in an economical manner,“ said Bedi. “This will increase the cost of electricity in the coming years and lead to sharp rise in tariff.“

The engineers want the state government to scrap all deals with private companies.
Specifically, they want termination of the power purchase agreement with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for executing the 2,640megawatt thermal-energy project at Gidderbaha, given that the company is forcing the Punjab government to lower the land acquisition price “to make profit at the cost of farmers“.