Nod to 1,600 MW plant at Batala
Jangveer Singh/TNS

Chandigarh, August 8
Batala MLA Ashwani Sekri has sought Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s support to establish a 16,00 MW thermal plant at Batala. The project has been reportedly cleared by the Ministry of Heavy Industries at his instance.

For the commissioning of the project, Sekri will have to depend on the state government for a suitable site and coal linkages. Earlier, Sekri had got a slum development project cleared for his constituency of Batala as well as that of Sukhbir’s constituency of Jalalabad.

Sekri, who met the Deputy CM yesterday, said the establishment of a thermal plant at Batala would help in the industrialisation of the Majha belt.

Official sources, when contacted, said the Deputy CM had directed the Secretary, Power, to evaluate the feasibility of the project. The sources said land for the project was available in Batala.

Earlier, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises informed Sekri that the department was dealing with two central public sector undertakings, HMT and BHEL. It said that HMT was facing severe financial constraints and was not in a position to invest in new plants. It said BHEL already had an industrial valves plant at Goindwal Sahib. Therefore, BHEL could only go in for investment in power generation under the National Power Development Programme.

Sekri was told by the Heavy Industries Department that it would consider setting up a thermal plant based on the super critical technology at Batala in tandem with the PSPCL.

It has committed itself to 26 per cent equity in the project, probably in the form of heavy machinery.