Power Plant at Lehra Mohabbat to go commercial by October
The two 250 Mw units at the Guru Hargobind Thermal Power Plant at Lehra Mohabbat near Bhatinda will go fully commercial by end-October, nearly 15 months behind schedule, said Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce and Power after a day-long review of progress at the site recently. He admitted that the delays are inexcusable and reflect poorly on BHEL as a EPC contractor. The delay has contributed to the substantial power shortages that Punjab is facing. Other projects where BHEL is the EPC contractor have also been delayed like Amarkantak (MP), Chandrapura (Jharkhand) and Bellary (Karnataka). Public sector rules, regulations and procedures have contributed to this situation and these need to be changed urgently to enable companies like BHEL to function effectively.
The Chairman of the PSEB, Shri Y.P. Ratra and his collegues briefed the Minister on the expansion plans of power generation in Punjab: (i) two additional 250 Mw units at Lehra Mohabbat; (ii) two additional 250 Mw units at the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Power Plant in Bhatinda; (iii) 3x660 Mw units at Talwandi Sabo to be put up by Sterlite Industries; and (iv) 2x250 Mw units at Gobindwal to be put up by GVK Group. In addition, 660 Mw/800 Mw units are being planned at Rajpura and Gidderbah. Shri Jairam Ramesh assured the PSEB that the Prime Minister’s commitment to supply 1500 Mw to Punjab from the proposed 4000 Mw project of NTPC at Lara in Chattisgarh that was made some months back in Amritsar will be fulfilled. He also complimented the Punjab State Electricity Board for running the two existing 210 Mw units at Lehra Mohabbat at efficiency over 37% which is among the highest in the country.
The PSEB Engineers Association also represented to the Minister of State of Commerce and Power that the Centre should not insist that PSEB should be unbundled which is a requirement under the Electricity Act, 2003. The Association felt that the experience with independent regulators has not been a success in Punjab and the state government has delayed subsidy payments to the PSEB which it is required to provide on time so that PSEB can fulfil its social obligations. Shri Jairam Ramesh explained to the Association that unbundling has been generally welcomed in all states and that Punjab too would benefit from the separation of generation, transmission and distribution and from corporatisation thereafter. He however agreed that Punjab has a very extensive rural electrification network that presents a special situation. Nevertheless, the requirements of the Electricity Act, 2003 will have to be adhered to by all states and in this connection, Shri Jairam Ramesh also pointed out that Tamil Nadu, one of the major hold-out states, has recently decided to separate transmission from generation.
PRA/SKK
(Release ID :41095)