Powercorp faces fresh trouble
This time for flouting national tarriff policy rules
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service

Nalash (Rajpura), October 22
Already under fire for awarding the thermal power projects in alleged violation of the National Tariff Policy, framed under the Electricity Act, 2003, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) seems to be in fresh trouble. A retired Superintending Engineer from the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Gurnek Singh Brar, has approached the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC), while urging the Commission to disapprove the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between the PSPCL and Nabha Power Limited (NPL), for setting up an expansion unit of 700-MW, at the Rajpura Thermal Plant at village Nalash, Rajpura.

After filing a petition in the PSERC on September 6, 2011, while urging the Commission to disapprove MoUs signed by the PSPCL for the extension units at the Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo thermal projects, recently Brar had submitted some "crucial confidential documents" to further substantiate his claims made in a petition before the PSERC. “Notwithstanding the fact that the Rajpura Thermal Power Project was awarded through the competitive bidding process; on July 28, 2010, the PSPCL signed an MoU with the NPL, a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s Larsen & Toubro (L&T), for increasing the capacity of the Rajpura Thermal Power Project by another 700-MW. This is a post-tender development and also flouts the National Tariff Policy guidelines", Brar alleged, while speaking to TNS.

Notably, projected as one of the most prestigious power projects, the 1400-MW Rajpura Thermal Power Plant was awarded to L&T through the competitive tariff-based bidding process and the foundation stone of the project was laid at village Nalash, Rajpura, on March 2, 2010.

Alleging that several other guidelines had been flouted while awarding the 700-MW expansion unit to NPL, Brar said, "While the process to award the expansion unit through an MoU was done in a quick succession of time, the developer has yet not take the approval of the MoU from the PSERC, notwithstanding the fact that it has been 14 months since the MoU was approved by the PSPCL and the Punjab Government."

No response from NPL

When contacted, the NPL officials at their Chandigarh-based office refused to comment on the matter and told this correspondent to send the queries on e-mail to their Mumbai office. Subsequently, on October 21, an e-mail was sent to Debojyoti Chatterjee from L&T Corporate Communications. "Today is our half-yearly results and we are in the middle of board meetings. We will respond to your queries by tomorrow", was what Debojyoti said on October 21. However, another reminder was sent to him on October 22 morning but till the filing of the report, there was no response from him.

Power secy denies irregularity

While talking to TNS, Secretary Power, Punjab, Anirudh Tiwari, vehemently denied any irregularity in awarding the expansion unit to the NPL. He said, "Whatever has been done is in accordance with the Punjab Power Generation Policy." When asked as to why the developer (NPL) has yet not taken the approval of the MoU from the PSERC, Tiwari said, "We have nothing to do with it as the onus of taking the approval from PSERC lies with the developer only."

Under fire

Gurnek Singh Brar, a former suprintending engineer, seeks disapproval of MoU between powercorp and NPL

Moves state electricity regulatory authority