Bathinda plant closure: Employees hold protest, seek white paper
BATHINDA:A day after the Punjab Cabinet decided to shut down its 460-MW Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDPT) in Bathinda and two units of the 1,260 MW Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant at Ropar with effect from January 1, 2018, employees of the GNDPT held a protest march on Thursday.
Agitated employees also burnt the effigy of Punjab finance minister and Bathinda (urban) MLA Manpreet Singh Badal.
The closure of the plants will affect around 3,000 employees. During campaigning for assembly polls, Manpreet had promised employees that the plant would work to full capacity, if the Congress formed the government.
On Friday, employees plan to hold a motorcycle rally till the
office of Manpreet.
In Rupnagar, employees raised slogans against the state government and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited.
Rupnagar MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa also addressed the protesters.
General secretary of GNDTP employees coordination committee Gursewak Singh said, “We will step up the agitation.” GNDTP chief engineer VK Garg said he was yet to receive the communication on plant closure.
A spokesperson of Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers’ Association said, “Members will wear black badges on January 1.”
The association has asked the state government to issue a white paper on the decision.
“Policy makers did not heed the association’s warning on the consequences of lopsided generation policies,” the association said.