Joint committee to re-examine existing power purchase pacts

CHANDIGARH: Power minister Gurpreet Kangar on Friday said that a joint committee of experts is being formed to review the existing power purchase agreements (PPAs) done by the state government with different private power plants.

While meeting the delegations of Joint Employees Forum and Bilji Mulazam Ekta Manch, Kangar assured them that the joint committee will have representatives of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Ltd (PSTCL) and employees associations that would re-examine the PPAs.

There were allegations from different quarters that the PPAs done by the PSPCL with private thermal plants are proving too costly for the exchequer.

He also promised a favourable solution to the 23-year promotional scale and the pay band issues. He directed the PSPCL CMD to look into the issue in the forthcoming meeting of the board of directors (BoD). He said that over 600 employees of various cadres have been promoted and about 400 others will be promoted soon.

Allaying the fear of PSPCL employees regarding dominance of private players in the power sector due to closure of 880-MW thermal units in Bathinda and Ropar, Kangar said the state government has approved a super critical thermal plant for Ropar which will have 5 units of 800 MW each. Besides, a 60-MW biomass plant and a 100-MW solar plant are also coming up soon. “The closure of existing units by no means amounts to dominance of private sector; it is just a switchover from the existing technology to the cheaper, greener, state-of-the-art technology,” he said.