GNDTP employees to meet Deputy CM today

Bathinda, October 27

Intensifying their protest against the state government’s decision over the closure of the state-owned thermal plants, hundreds of employees of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) blocked the Bathinda–Goniana road today for around half-an-hour where the Deputy Chief Minister will inaugurated the Bathinda-Malout-Muktsar railway-over-bridge tomorrow.

The employees have got a meeting fixed with the Deputy Chief Minister in Bathinda tomorrow.

They claimed that the decision of the government to close these plants would ruin the condition of machines installed at the thermal plants that were renovated in 2006-2007 with an investment of Rs 700 crore by the state government.

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) recently decided to shut down three state-owned power plants for six months and to purchase power from private players. However, it later decided to close the GNDTP on priority basis. Now, two units are being run to exhaust the coal stock.

“We have been protesting for a long time against the decision of the government to close these plants and if need arises, we’ll intensify the agitation”, said Gursewak Singh, president of the GNDTP Employees Federation, Bathinda. — TNS