Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today questioned the Punjab government’s move to sell power to Pakistan when the state was still massively power deficit. “It is strange that the Akali-BJP government in Punjab is trying to illuminate Lahore while Punjab continues to remain enveloped in darkness due to massive power shortage”, he remarked.
Reacting to the reports that the Punjab government was planning to sign a power selling agreement with the West Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharief, Tewari wondered as where from would Punjab get the power to export it to Pakistan since the state during the peak demand was still short of about 6000 MWs. “Even when all the power plants get fully operational, Punjab will still be short of about 4000 MWs”, he revealed, while questioning the logic of exporting power under such circumstances.
“Just because the state government has inaugurated two units in two thermal plants at Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo generating 1300 MWs more does not mean the state is power sufficient leave aside being power surplus so that it can export it”, he observed, while adding, Punjab has a long way to go before it could even be self sufficient in power production.
The Minister wondered as how could Punjab think of selling power to someone else when the industry during the peak demand was subjected to 4 days power cuts in a week. He pointed out, even in the agriculture sector the state was not able to supply the promised eight hour power. Besides, he added, there was no end to the unscheduled power cuts in Punjab during last year.Giving details, Tewari, who represents Ludhiana parliamentary constituency said, the total availability of power in Punjab from all sources, state as well as the central pool was not more than 8000 MW and this was far too less than the peak demand of 14000 MW. He said, it can be anybody’s guess as how a power deficit state can even think of exporting power. “Nothing can be far from the truth than someone claiming that Punjab was power surplus”, he remarked.The minister said, the state government appears to have been swept away by the over-enthusiasm over the inauguration of two units of Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo. “But let me remind the state government that it does not have any direct control over the power generated from these units as these are owned by private power companies who have no commitment to supply power to Punjab”, he pointed out, while remarking, this is a classic case of someone trying to sell someone else’s horse.