PSEB engineer association sought meeting with CM to highlight discrepancies in Ahluwalia committee report
Kanwar inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
PSEB Engineers’ Association has sought a meeting with Chief Minister Punjab to discuss the recommendations for the power sector by Montek Singh Ahluwalia led the expert committee. Er. Ajay Pal Singh Atwal, General Secretary of the Association said that the Association has written a letter to the Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on the recent recommendations of the expert committee which are very discouraging and in total disregard to the performance of PSPCL/PSTCL.
Association has pointed out that there was no expert from the power sector in the committee and even the committee had no discussion with PSPCL management/ engineers. in matters related to the power sector. Atwal said that the overall distribution losses in the PSPCL are at 11.7% and are among the lowest in India with Mixed load Urban feeders having a loss of 13.35%. The exclusive industrial feeders are having a loss of 1.8%. The abnormal losses in certain pockets can be easily brought down to less than 10% with political will. The Association is of the considerate opinion that the recommendation of the Committee to privatise distribution system in cities is not based on a fair analysis and knowledge about the Punjab’s Power Sector.
Er. Jasvir Dhiman, President of the Association said that further closing the two PSPCL thermal plants will lead to disastrous consequences for the state of Punjab in the long run. The expert group has failed to point out that IPPs in Punjab are creating an extra burden of Rs. 1000 crore per annum in the form of fixed charges. The closure of the state thermal plants will not only raise the tariff but also lead to total blackmail by the private sector IPPs. Association strongly recommends using high-quality coal from the PSPCL coal mine at Pachwara at PSPCL plants. Moreover, the cost of power from GVK Goindwal Sahib, TSPL Talwandi Sabo and L&T Rajpura has become uneconomical at a rate of Rs.9.54, 6.62, and 5.05 per unit respectively. With an assured high plant load factor and use of coal from Pachwara Coal Mine, the rate per unit from Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat thermal plants of PSPCL will be significantly lesser.
Regarding solarisation of all the AP tubewells is not wise economics. To solarise 14 Lac AP tube wells having a connected load of about 13000MW, solar panels having a capacity of 30,000 MW shall have to be installed requiring a capital investment of Rs.1.20 Lac crores, besides 1.25 Lac acre productive land shall have to be spared by the farmers of Punjab. In such circumstances, the IPPs of Punjab will become almost non-operational and power share from central sector Projects will have to be surrendered.
September,6,2020
