Ajaypal Singh Atwal general secretary PSEBA said that Punjab government and PSPCL management is not able to safeguard the interest of the power sector and alleged that a big land grabbing is going on in the Punjab power sector. Land of Bhatinda thermal worth Rs.4000 crore is being transferred to private players at Rs.1.
Padamjit Singh (retd.) chief patron of AIPEF said that the government is planning to close down Ropar thermal units despite the fact they have more than one lakh hours of useful life.
The proposals of the power sector experts to establish additional solar plants at Bathinda and Ropar are being ignored by the government.
JS Dhiman, President of the Association said that PSPCL is already under a debt of over Rs. 15000 crore but there is a move by the PSPCL management to hand over GNDTP Bathinda and Ropar Power colony land for free. Instead of reinvesting in the power sector, the expensive assets of PSPCL are being sacrificed by Management.
In the meeting, the PSEBEA criticised the management that instead of hiring the regular staff it is bent upon reducing the manpower, this will have a direct impact on the services and revenue of the PSPCL.
They said that even the state share quota posts in BBMB are not being filled. The meeting condemned the delay in granting a pay scale of Rs. 18030 to AE’s and decision of stoppage of generation incentive and decreasing the contribution of NPS from 14% to 10%.