PSPCL takes over 540 MW Goindwal Sahib power plant

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, February 6

The shares of the GVK-owned private thermal plant at Goindwal Sahib were finally transferred to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) today. The state government has raised a loan of Rs 1,080 crore from the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) to buy this plant.

Rs 1,080 crore loan from PFC

• The state government has raised a loan of Rs 1,080 crore from the Power Finance Corporation to buy the plant
• AAP is set to dedicate the 540 MW power plant to people at a function in the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday

This loan amount, over and above Rs 26,317-crore loan taken between April and December 2023 to meet various liabilities, has also been transferred to the financial institutions that had financed the plant, when it was built and operated by GVK Power. The loan raised to buy the plant will be repaid by the PSPCL.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to dedicate the 540 MW thermal power plant to the people at a function in the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency on Sunday.

CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal are expected to address the rally being organised there and claim credit for having purchased the private power plant besides bringing it into the public sector domain. They want to politically cash in on their “efforts to strengthen the public sector with the purchase of a private power plant”, during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Sources told The Tribune that the final settlement of assets concluded today, following which the money raised from the PFC was released to the financial institutions. This was done after the value of coal stock at the thermal plant (as on December 22, 2023) was assessed.

The bid by the state government had been approved by the National Company Law Tribunal. After the state government’s bid was accepted by the NCLT in December 2023, a monitoring panel, which also had PSPCL officials, was looking after the affairs of the plant.