Deal with NTPC may be scrapped
Ravinder Vasudeva
BATHINDA

( ) We want to let the PSPCL build the Gidderbaha plant because we'll close the Bathinda unit of the corporation in two years S U K H B I R S I N G H BA DA L deputy chief minister

: Desperate to commission the proposed electricity projects in a hurry, the Punjab government has run out of patience with one.
It plans to end its deal with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for laying a 2,640-megawatt thermal-energy plant at Gidderbaha, for the company has dilly-dallied over the project for the past one year.
A few days ago, in a meeting to review the project's status, an idea was mooted to hand over the work to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

“Three upcoming electricity plants in Punjab are in the private sector, so the government is inclined to handing over at least the Gidderbaha project to PSPCL,“ deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal confirmed on his last visit to Gidderbaha.
“The state government also has reviewed the NTPC's work portfolio. The country's largest stateowned electricity company has been slow in commissioning plants.“

It was in October last year that the NTPC won this project worth Rs 15,000 crore on agreeing to complete it in 36 months.
So far, it has not even acquired the land, though the government has notified about 2,100 acre for acquisition. The NTPC is yet to create coal link to the plant, and it's the biggest hurdle in the project, sources in the government have said.

Planned to be the biggest thermal-energy station in Punjab, the proposed plant at Gidderbaha is also expected to boost ancillary industry and employment in the area. “The state government also has another reason to let the PSPCL build this plant,“ said the deputy chief minister. “It has decided to close the corporation's thermal-energy plant in Bathinda in two years.“

“The PSPCL was keen on running the project at Gidderbaha,“ said Sukhbir. “It will allow it to adjust its workforce when the plant in Bathinda is closed.“ The PSEB Engineers Association had first raised the demand that the project at Gidderbaha be awarded to the PSPCL. It gave many representations to chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, and stated in all that the decision to award the project to the NTPC was hasty and non-transparent.

Many officials in the PSPCL and NTPC declined to comment on the issue. The NTPC was unable to acquire land from farmers, for they wanted the compensation price revised.

About a month ago, at the sangat darshan programmes in Gidderbaha villages, the CM had told the aggrieved farmers that a fresh development was in the making. About two years ago, the project was struck in an array of bottlenecks. The NTPC set March 2015 as deadline for commissioning the first of its units to produce 660-MW energy.