Banawala (Mansa), November 25
The first unit of the 1,980-MW Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant became operational at Banawala village today. The plant, which happens to be the first in the private sector in Punjab, was commissioned by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal by pressing a remote button.

The inaugural ceremony of the 660-MW unit saw the Badal clan, including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal, drubbing the Congress-led UPA government.

The CM accused the Congress of ruining the agrarian economy of the state. He said the party denied Punjab its legitimate territorial rights and share in river water.

From December 1, the state government would double the number of beneficiaries under the Atta-Dal scheme from existing 16 to 32 lakh, besides slashing the rate of atta from Rs 4 to Re 1 per kg, the CM said.

Seeking votes for his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Badal and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, he said smooth relations among states and the Centre were a must for overall development, which could only be feasible if the BJP-led NDA government was voted to power at the Centre. “The Badal government had to take permission from 11 departments over a period of two years to get the Talwandi Sabo thermal project passed,” said MP Harsimrat Badal.

Sukhbir Badal said the SAD-BJP government in the state had revived projects left defunct by the Congress. “The Amarinder Singh government termed the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery a white elephant and abandoned it. We revived and completed the project, giving Punjab the country’s biggest refinery,” he said. With the coming up of super critical power plant in the private sector, the state’s power scenario was set to undergo a major change. With the 1,400-MW Rajpura Thermal Plant set to commission its first unit from December 8, there would be more power available in Punjab, he claimed.

With all power plants in the private sector set to be commissioned over a year, Punjab would be in a position to sell power to other states. “This would directly affect tariffs. The more we have, the lesser our people will have to pay for it,” he said.

He said around 1.5 lakh priority tube connections would be soon released to farmers having small and marginal holdings in the state.