With his ‘rebellious’ Power Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu yet to take over his new department, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday held a high level review meeting to take a stock of the power situation in the state in the wake of peak demand.
The unwavered Sidhu has not assumed the new charge since June 6 when he was divested of charge of Local Government and Tourism and Cultural Affairs portfolios in a cabinet reshuffle, the first after the Lok Sabha election results. He has been given Power and New and Renewable Energy Sources.
In Sidhu’s absence, the Chief Minister has been monitoring the power situation over the past few weeks. Wednesday’s meeting was convened to review the power situation and progress of other works relating to the Power Ministry amidst reports from across the State over the power shortage that was mainly hampering the paddy transplantation.
Chief Minister, chairing the meeting, ordered a crackdown on power theft in a bid to check the huge losses suffered by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), particularly in the areas bordering Pakistan and Haryana.
Capt Amarinder directed the state Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh to issue detailed guidelines to the district police and civil administration in the concerned districts to work with PSPCL to check power theft.
He also asked the Chief Secretary to tie up with the state Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta to ensure adequate police protection to PSPCL staff engaged in taking action against unscrupulous elements engaged in pilferage of power through ‘kundi connections’.
PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director BS Sran informed that the maximum losses on Urban Power Supply (UPS) feeders were reported in the border towns of Bhikiwind (80 percent), Patti (71 percent), Zira (61 percent) followed by Patran (57 percent), Baghapurana (55 percent), Tarn Taran (51 percent) and Ajnala (50 percent).
To clear PSPCL’s mounting subsidy arrears, the Chief Minister directed the Finance Department to ensure timely release of the payments to help the power entity operate seamlessly and efficaciously. He also asked the Finance Department to ensure release of subsidy payments at regular intervals.
On the tardy supply of coal to the thermal power plants in the state, the Chief Minister informed the PAPCL CMD that he had already taken up this issue with the Centre and requested it to direct Coal India Limited to ensure regular and uninterrupted supply for smooth generation of power in the State.
He asked the CMD to expedite the Shahpur Kandi Power Project as an alternate source of eco-friendly hydropower generation, which would result in financial benefits of Rs 250-300 crore per year to PSPCL.
The CMD told the Chief Minister that the total power demand in the State had gone up by 17.78 percent in June this year, and had further escalated to 33.31 percent as of date, compared with the corresponding periods of the previous year which was the result of the prolonged dry spell and delayed monsoon.
There was also a substantial increase of 37 percent in the demand for power consumption in agriculture sector this June as against the corresponding month last year, primarily due to advancement of sowing of paddy by 10 days. The maximum demand during 2019-20 was 13,633 MW as compared to last year’s demand of 12,638 MW.
The meeting was further informed that an all-time record 2268 Million Units (MUs) surplus energy was sold outside the State through exchange and tenders during 2018-19. The CMD further disclosed that the state power utility had been selling power to other states including J&K, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, under the arrangement of banking of power.
