Punjab to tie up with NTPC to
expedite Gidderbaha plant work

CM Parkash Singh Badal presiding over a meeting of senior officers to expedite setting up of thermal plants in Chandigarh.dp
Badal also directed the CMD of Powercom to draft the suitable posting policy for Powercom officials
Badal said with the commencement of Gidderbaha, Mukerian power projects, Punjab would emerge as a major power generating state

DP CORRESPONDENT

Chandigarh

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has directed Power Secretary Anirudh Tiwari to tie up with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to expedite the work on construction of thermal power plant at Gidderbaha on priority.

Chairing a high-level meeting here on Sunday evening, Badal said that with the commencement of Gidderbaha and Mukerian power projects, Punjab would emerge as a major power generating state in the country.

Responding to the demand put forth by the PSEB Engineers’ Association regarding the implementation of the tripartite agreement between Punjab government, management of two successor companies of erstwhile PSEB - Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Ltd (PSTCL) and all the unions and associations of PSPCL and PSTCL, Chief Minister assured the engineers that the state government was committed to implement the terms and conditions of the agreement in the right earnest adding that any issue pertaining to the Powercom would be solved on its basis.

He also directed the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of Powercom KD Chaudhary to ensure the reorganisation of Powercom along with updating its infrastructure so as to sustain the efficiency of corporation.

Badal also directed the CMD Powercom to draft the suitable posting policy for Powercom officials so that the dictum of ‘right man at right post’ could be

aptly followed for optimum utilisation of the manpower of the corporation.

Chief Minister said that as the state government was vying to herald a new era of progress in the agriculture and industrial sectors, more power was required to achieve this gigantic task due to which need of the hour is to speed up the process of setting up public sector power plants at Gidderbaha and Mukerian. The CM made it clear that the acquisition of land for any project must be done in accordance with the policy of the state government stipulating that not even an inch of land would be acquired without the express consent of the stakeholders.

Badal blamed the previous Congress government for not initiating any project for augmenting power generation and said present government had taken up several projects, which would change the entire power scenario in Punjab within next two years.

He expressed hope that this power plant would be instrumental to cope with the power shortage across the state during the coming five years adding that only such pro-development decisions could take the state in the orbit of high growth trajectory because power was the key sector and the engine of overall growth.

Besides Tiwari and Chaudhary, CM’s Principal Secretary SK Sandhu, Special Principal Secretary Gaggandip Singh Brar and PSEB Engineers’ Association patron HS Bedi, president Baldev Singh Sra, general secretary Sanjeev Sood also attended the meeting.