Bathinda, July 9
Strongly criticising the power generation policy of the SAD-BJP government, the PSEB Engineers Association has demanded that the state government and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) must scrap all the memorandum of understandings (MOU) entered into with private companies for setting up thermal power plants in Punjab.

Terming the government policy and the MoUs inked with private companies and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) as detrimental to the interest of commoners and against the national tariff policy framed under the Electricity Act-2003, the Association has decided to launch an agitation against the same.

In a meeting held here today, members of the west zone of the Association decided to hold a two-hour pen-down strike on July 26. They would not even attend calls on their mobile phones during the strike.

The Association also appealed to the Chief Minister, Punjab, to grant an immediate approval to the PSPCL’s proposal to set up a 1320-MW thermal plant under the state sector.

HS Bedi, president of the Association, said they would also issue a white paper on the lopsided policy of the Punjab Government to hand over its entire future power generation plants to private companies. The white paper would reveal the ill effects and the pitfalls of the government’s policy.

“The Association will launch a 15-day campaign to educate people, including elected representatives, about the pitfalls of the government policy. Later, a meeting will be held to decide the future course of action,” he pointed out.

Bhupinder Singh, general secretary of the Association, said the MOUs entered into with private companies for setting up thermal plants were against the guidelines issued by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) from time to time, which mandated purchase of power only through competitive bidding.

“The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission has also raised serious observations on the policy of the government under which thermal plants are being awarded through MOU route,” he claimed.

The members of the Association pointed out that the PSPCL was meeting 52 per cent of the demand of its consumers from its own generation and rest of the power was being taken from the central sector allocation and from private players.

“With the commissioning of new plants under private sector without any addition in generation under the state sector, the share of own generation will go down to less than 19 per cent, which will be totally inadequate to run the grid operations in an economical manner,” the engineers claimed.

They added, “Private sector is being allowed to take over the generation business in Punjab by eliminating state sector participation in new projects, which will increase the cost of power in the coming years leading to a sharp rise in the power tariff.”

Bathinda, July 9
Disappointment prevails among MNREGA (Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers in the state over low wages (Rs 123 a day) being paid to them.

Seeking Rs 300 as daily wage for MNREGA workers, the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha (MMM), Punjab, will hold protests at all tehsil headquarters in the state on August 8. Later, the MMM will hold district-level protests.

Secretary of the MMM Bhagwant Samao today said that in these dharnas, a large number of MNREGA workers would take part so as to send a strong message to the central government to revise their wages in the light of rising prices.

Samao said another demand of the workers was abolition of the condition, which calls for payment of wages according to the work done by the worker. However, the workers wanted that they should be paid for eight hours a day.

He said the majority of the MNREGA workers were women and some of them could not complete their work in a day. Due to this, sometimes they were paid less. He said the MMM wanted that the government should implement an eight-hour duty norm for the MNREGA workers. Besides, all labour laws should also be implemented in letter and spirit, he said.

The MMM leader alleged that in villages, MNREGA workers were being discriminated on political grounds.

Samao also asked the state government to organise camps and seminars to sensitise workers about the MNREGA.

Bathinda, July 9
Members and activists of the Block Office Assistants/ Coordinators Front, Punjab, today took out a march from the local Teachers’ Home to the Mini-secretariat here in support of their demands.

Their main demands are the pay-scale of Rs 10,300 plus Rs 2,800 as grade pay for block office assistants, the pay-scale of Rs 10,300 plus Rs 3,200 as grade pay for assistant block coordinators, medical leave, pregnancy leave and other leaves.

Gurpreet Singh, president of the Front, led the protest. Later, the protesters staged a dharna outside the Mini-secretariat. They also submitted a memorandum enlisting their demands to the Tehsildar, Bathinda, to forward the same to the government. — TNS

Ferozepur, July 9
The newly-born girl child who was found abandoned near a sewer hole in the city could not survive even after she was admitted to the children’s hospital yesterday. The baby, it was learnt, had been delivered prematurely and was not only underweight but also suffered from hypothermia besides injuries.

Dr Sheel Sethi, who attended on the child, said all efforts were made but the infant could not recover and died today in the morning. Praveen Mehta, a local businessman who had spotted the baby and brought her to the hospital yesterday, said the body was sent to the Faridkot Medical College for DNA test by an ambulance provided by the Red Cross. Ashok Behal, secretary, Red Cross, said after the tests at Faridkot, the infant was buried there with help of some NGOs. — OC