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The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) backed by the state government recommended to the Centre to “extend the deadline” for installing pollution control devices in all thermal power plants in the state and save them from closure even as the principal agency — the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) — “did not recommend extension for any private thermal plant”.
The state has two government thermal plants — the one in Ropar and the other in Lehra Mohabbat — and as many in the private sector in Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo.
The CPCB had asked thermal plants in the state to install the fuel gas desulphurisation (FGD) system, which would have cut down emission of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter (PM) and mercury.
The deadline to install the FGD system was December 2017. But it was later extended by two years to December 2019, but none of the four plants met the deadline. The CPCB had warned that the plants not meeting the deadline would be shut.
Sources say that almost a month after the Additional Chief Secretary (Power) wrote to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on November 27, 2019, pleading the case for extending the deadline, the officer also wrote to the PPCB and asked the state board to also pitch for extension.
It has surfaced that the PPCB adhered to the officer’s request without taking into account the PSCPL’s contention that only state-owned plants be exempted from installing the FGD system.
The PSPCL had, on December 18, 2019, written to PPCB chairman SS Marwaha in this connection.
The letter, a copy of which is with The Tribune, stated, “The power load factor of state-owned plants in Lehra Mohabbat and Ropar remains very low. During the last three financial years ending on March 31, 2019, the PLF of the Lehra Mohabbat plant was in the range of 31 to 36 per cent and that of the Ropar plant was in the range of 22 to 25 per cent… In view of the current scenario of demand for power, the PLF of state-owned plants will remain low. So the yearly average quantum of pollutants from these plants remains fewer because of the low PLF… The installation of FGD system in the Lehra Mohabbat and Ropar plants will not serve any purpose.”
Karunesh Garg, PPCB member secretary, said: “It was impossible for thermal plants to meet the deadline. Therefore, we requested the CPCB for an extension. We sought extension only after the government top brass wrote to us asking for the same and we had to comply.”
SAD targets Jakhar: ‘Stop befooling people’
Chandigarh: The SAD on Monday asked state Congress president Sunil Jakhar to stop befooling people by expressing concern about pollution emitted by the Talwandi Sabo plant when the Congress had pleaded with the CPCB to extend the deadline for installing anti-pollution devices in the plants. SAD’s Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra said that for the second time, Jakhar was diverting attention from the Rs4,100-crore power scam.
