E-Paper
L&T power plant resumes operations
Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has resumed operations at its 1,400-MW Nabha power plant even as the company is yet to adhere to the Union environment ministry’s revised pollution norms. This has happened after the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) served a notice on the firm for defaulting on the power purchase agreement (PPA).
Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has resumed operations at its 1,400-MW Nabha power plant even as the company is yet to adhere to the Union environment ministry’s revised pollution norms. This has happened after the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) served a notice on the firm for defaulting on the power purchase agreement (PPA). The plant, Nabha Power Ltd (NPL) was shut on December 31, 2019.
The firm charges ₹1,300 crore annually from the government as fixed cost charges for running the said plant. The plant was shut after the firm failed to adhere to the Centre’s mandatory pollution guidelines on installing flue-gas desulphuriser (FGD).
In 2017, the government had issued guidelines to install FGD in all power plants within a radius of 300km by 2019, failing which the company could be fined. On December 30, 2019, the operator wrote to the PSPCL that it will be shutting operations from the next day. In response, the PSPCL served a notice on the firm, saying consumers should not suffer for delay on firm’s part to install the equipment.
Sources said that L&T approached government quarters, but didn’t find favour and decided to start operations even if meant violation of the pollution norms. The government said when no plant in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh shut operations, why L&T did it so unilaterally when the norms are the same.
When Contacted, PSPCL CMD Baldev Singh Sran confirmed that NPL has started operations. “But the firm is still to reply to the PSPCL notice , as they cant take consumers and punjab government on ride for their own failures”, said he.
Chidambaram to represent PSPCL in SC
The PSPCL has hired the services of Rajya Sabha MP and former Union home minister P Chidambaram, who is a senior lawyer, to defend the contempt petition filed by L&T in the Supreme Court on account of coal-washing charges. The L&T had floated a bill of ₹2,700 crore as coal-washing charges as per the apex court judgment, however, the PSPCL re-calculated it and paid only ₹1,400 crore. The company then filed a contempt petition by terming recalculation by PSPCL as a violation of the Supreme Court judgment. The case is listed for Wednesday.
Private plants recently won the case of coal washing charges, costing the PSPCL ₹500 crore every year for 21 years.
