Gidderbaha power project in limbo
NTPC wants changes in MoU signed with PSPCL
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 15
With no end to the deadlock between the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) over the issue of amendments in the terms and conditions mentioned in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed to set up a 2,640-MW coal-based thermal power project at Gidderbaha, the fate of the much-publicised power project seems uncertain. After signing of the MoU in October 2010, the project, the estimated cost of which was Rs 15,000 crore, is yet to take off.

In a letter dated August 5, 2011, addressed to the then Punjab Chief Secretary SC Agarwal, NTPC CMD Arup Roy Choudhury had stated that they want to set up only two units of 660-MW each against the earlier envisaged capacity of four units of 660-MW each. Another major amendment sought in the MoU by the NTPC was to reduce the land acquisition for the project from 1,999.12 acres to 1,000 acres.

Inquiries made by The Tribune have brought to light that PSPCL authorities have replied back to the NTPC letter clearly stating that they have to stick to the terms and conditions mentioned in the MoU. "Since then, there is no written communiqué between the NTPC and the PSPCL authorities. However, there had been verbal talks on the issue but that too are inconclusive till now," said a senior officer of the PSPCL.

Sources in the Power Corporation have stated that the NTPC itself is not interested in undertaking the Gidderbaha project. "The amendments sought by the NTPC are in complete deviation from the terms and conditions of the MoU and are practically not feasible. In reality, seeking the amendments in the MoU is nothing but a deliberate attempt so that the Power Corporation scraps the MoU," said another senior officer of the PSPCL.

Neither NTPC nor PSPCL officials were willing to comment on the issue on account of sensitivity of the matter, technocrats working with the PSPCL said it would be better to terminate the MoU.

Pointing out that lack of seriousness over undertaking the project could well be gauged from the fact that it has been more than one and a half year since the MoU was signed and there is no further progress, PSEB Engineers' Association president Baldev Singh Dran said NTPC was not keen to take up the Gidderbaha project. "We are demanding for a long time past that the MoU should be scrapped and the project should be undertaken in the state sector", he added.