Punjab Minister for Power and Public Works, Minister Harbhajan Singh today paid a special visit to Rajpura Thermal Power Plant along with Chairman cum Managing Director of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) Baldev Singh Sran.Interacting with the reporters after meeting top management of Nabha Power Limited, which operates 2x700 MW Rajpura Thermal Power Plant, the Power Minister said PSPCL was all geared up to meet the increased power demand of the state even during the upcoming paddy season. On the issue of the coal crisis, the minister said, “Not only Punjab but the entire country is facing coal crisis. But, Punjab is still in a better position than other states."He said that the power demand had already crossed 8500 MW and the power corporation was meeting this demand, which was 40 per cent more than the previous year.
He said that all measures were being taken to ensure an uninterrupted and reliable supply of electricity to all sections of the state, be it agricultural, industrial, commercial or domestic consumers.He said that efforts were being made to re operationalise the Pachwara coal mines and the supply of coal from this mine to the thermal power plants of the state was expected to start by the end of June. He said that as the demand increased manifold, the state government was working to ensure that all state owned and private thermal plants operated at full capacity.
Talking to reporters, PSPCL CMD Chairman cum Managing Director Baldev Singh Sran lauded the contributions being made by the Rajpura Thermal Power Plant. He said the performance of this plant was better than the others and this plant has undoubtedly proved to be the backbone of the state's energy sector.Rajpura MLA Neena Mittal said that it was a matter of pride that the Power Minister had today visited the thermal plant in her constituency which, according to her, was playing a crucial role in bridging the gap of demand and supply in Punjab.Earlier, senior officials of Nabha Power welcomed the Power Minister and apprised him of the plant’s performance. They told the minister that the plant availability factor (PAF) of the Rajpura Thermal has been more than 96% during the paddy season in the last few years, especially during the last two years when PAF has been consistently 100%.