New Delhi/Chandigarh, April 6
Power Minister of Punjab Harbhajan Singh met Union Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi at Parliament House in national capital and also called upon R.K.Singh, Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy to discuss the concerns of the State of Punjab over ongoing coal crisis and power related issues on Wednesday.
This was their first one-on-one meeting in a formal setting. During the meeting, the Punjab Power Minister stated that the State witnesses maximum power demand during paddy season and they have to run all the units of thermal power stations under state sector to meet the increased power demand. He further stated that the maximum demand is likely to exceed 15000 MW in ensuing paddy season. He also raised the concerns over issue of supply of less coal rakes in comparison to the allocations made by Sub-Group Committee on Coal to the State Sector Plants as well as the Independent Power Producers (IPPs). He requested the Union Coal Minister to allocate 20 lakh MT additional coal for State Sector Plants and 30 Lakh MT of coal to be transferred from PSPCL to IPPs namely Nabha Power Ltd. (NPL) and Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL) under ‘Flexibility Policy’ during the paddy season-2022. He further requested the Union Coal Minister for supply of atleast 19 rakes daily to Punjab to meet the day-to-day demand. Union Coal Minister assured that sufficient quantity of coal rakes will be allocated to Punjab.
Harbhajan Singh also met R.K.Singh, Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy in Delhi to discuss the power related issues of Punjab. He informed the Union Power Minister that due to ongoing country-wide coal crisis, the power plants in the State of Punjab will face acute shortage of coal during the forthcoming Paddy Season-2022. He requested the Union Power Minister to allocate 1500 MW power to the State of Punjab on urgent basis from the Central Sector Generating Stations in order to provide uninterrupted 8 hours power supply to Agriculture Sector and uninterrupted power supply to other consumers in Punjab. The Union Power Minister assured that he would look into the matter and provide sufficient quantity of un-allocated power to Punjab.
Punjab Cabinet Minister also took up the matter regarding Bhakhra Beas Management Board with Union Power Minister.
