Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday said that the State would become a power surplus by the end of this year.
Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the newly upgraded 220 KW Power Grid here, the Chief Minister said that when the State Government had assumed power in 2007, Punjab was power deficit by 30 per cent as their predecessors had never bothered to augment the power supply. However, he said, that realising well that power was the engine of growth in any economy the SAD-BJP Government has taken unprecedented steps to enhance power generation in the State for which three thermal power plants with a capacity of 3920 MW were under construction.
“These power plants would be commissioned soon after which Punjab would become the power surplus State of the country by the December this year,” he said. The Chief Minister further said that the day was not far away when instead of incurring heavy expenditure on purchasing the power, the State Government would be in a capacity to sell the power to other States. Referring to the farmers, Badal said that if his Government had not extended a helping hand to the farmers of State by giving them free power worth Rs 5700 crore then they would have been completely vanished.