Bathinda thermal plant to be shut, employees shifted

Chandigarh : In a decision that will affect almost 3,000 employees, both regular and contractual, the Punjab Cabinet today decided to shut down its 460 MW Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant in Bathinda and two units of the 1,260 MW Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant at Ropar with effect from January 1, 2018.
While all regular employees will be shifted to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), the contractual staff will be “adjusted” in PSPCL, Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited and private thermal plants at Rajpura, Goindwal Sahib and Talwandi Sabo. Upset, the employees coordination committee of the Bathinda thermal plant claimed that in order to offset losses incurred on buying expensive power from private thermal plants, the government was shutting down its own units. Expressing doubt over the government’s intention to rehabilitate contractual employees, committee convener Parkash Singh said they planned a statewide protest, pointing out that the government had spent Rs 700 crore on the renovation of the Bathinda plant in 2014.