ROPAR: Powercom engineers at Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat thermal plants held protest gate meetings for two days against suspension of Chief Engineer of Ropar tharmal Plant and dismissal of Director Generation by Punjab Government.
Protest rallies were held at plant gate as a protest expressing deep displeasure over the method of removal of Director generation on the basis of baseless and non-technical facts.
Engineers said that allegations made on both senior engineers , which compared sub-critical thermal plants with latest super-critical technology based plants for fuel cost (coal cost) in state thermal plants are hypothetical and far from the truth. There is a prescribed Merit Order Dispatch (MOD) for operating a thermal plant .
According to the power purchase and regulation wing of the department, the cost of generating electricity of a private thermal plant Talwandi Sabo based on new technology was Rs 3.77 per unit and based on old sub-critical technology at state thermal plants at Goindwal Sahib and Ropar it is Rs 3.81 per unit and Rs 3.91 per unit respectively.
Various speakers said that it seems that the management and the government wants to sell the lands of Powercom and Transco to corporate houses . The action seems to be a hidden agenda just to create an atmosphere of fear and doubt among engineers. Further, tearing down the autonomy of Powercom and controlling the authority of the Board of Directors to take decisions on the works of the department, causing unnecessary political interference in the technical works and procurement processes of Powercom will affect the functioning of PSPCL.
The Association warned that If political interference is not stopped immediately then the PSEB Engineers Association will be forced to intensify the struggle .