HPGCL should seek compensation for failure of thermal unit
V K Gupta

29 March, 2012

In a letter to Haryana Chief Minister, All India Power Engineers Federation has asked HPGCL to claim compensation from Reliance Infra, as it has suffered heavy losses due to failure of Yamuna Nagar thermal unit - the reason being the design defect.
---------------------------------------------------------
All India Power Engineers federation in a letter to Chief Minister Haryana has demanded that Reliance Infra must be black listed and damages claimed from the firm for daily loss of 300 MW generation along with repair charges of about 5 crore.

The Chinese-make Turbine of Unit 2 installed by Reliance Infra suffered a failure on September 25 last year and the enquiry committee of HPGCL conclusively established that there was a defect in the design and construction and design due to which the Turbine failed.

It may be mentioned that Haryana had to over draw power from Northern Grid and pay corresponding power over drawl charges. As per official records state over drew 11823 lakh units from September 26 to March 11 costing Rs. 430.52 crore. It will take another four months to set right the unit.

HPGCL suspended one executive engineer on October 7, 2011 without any fault just to cover up the incident. The fault was on part of Reliance Infra and the Chinese manufacturer while HPGCL suspended the engineer.

Padamjit Singh, Chairman AIPEF said that when the Reliance Infra is at fault and liable to pay compensation to HPGCL then there is no purpose in keeping the XEN suspended since 7th Oct 2011, with no charge sheet served.

The final taking over of units, which is pending should be given only after the necessary changes in both units are made to rectify the design defect and compensation claimed from the firm.

Haryana suffered additional power cuts due to the failure of this unit, which has resulted in loss to industry and hardship to the consumers. In view of this, there is a strong case to blacklist the firm.