HC notice to state govt over closure of thermal plant

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 5

In a hearing of a public interest litigation filed by employees of the Guru Nank Dev Thermal Plant against the closure of the plant, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to the state government, Central Electricity Authority, Rural Electrification Corporation, chief managing director, PSPCL, and Municipal Corporation, Bathinda, among others. The next hearing of the case is on December 18.

Members of the Employees Taalmel Committee of the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant today staged a rally outside the main gate of the plant.

Female employees of the plant also participated in the stir. During the protest, leaders of the committee Prakash Singh, Roop Singh and Gursewak Singh said in the petition, employees of the plant had also demanded a CBI inquiry into the power purchase agreements (PPA) that the state government had signed with private power plants in the past.

Deriding the PSPCL’s claim that running the plant was proving to be a costly affair, the employees said while the life of renovated units 1 and 2 of the GNDTP is up to 2022, that of renovated units 3 and 4 is up to 2029, but the state government was pushing for the plant’s closure even when Rs 715 crore had been spent on renovation of these units.

They raised slogans against the state government and said the former SAD-BJP and the present Congress government were both in favour of privatisation in the field of power in the state and hence, had been supporting the faulty power purpose agreements signed with private companies generating power.

They added that the ‘power surplus’ status that the state was enjoying would not last beyond 2022 since the state was closing government-run power plants, which were functioning well and producing electricity at cheaper rates as compared to private plants.

The employees said considering the nonchalant attitude of the government, they would observe a day-long strike on December 14.