State-owned power equipment maker Bhel has commissioned a 500 mw thermal power plant in West Bengal.
"Bhel has added one more coal-based power plant to the grid by successfully commissioning a 500 MW thermal generating unit in West Bengal," the company said in a statement today.
The 500 MW unit 3 was commissioned at the upcoming Sagardighi Thermal Power Extension Project of West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL), located at Sagardighi in Murshidabad district.
"This is the first unit of Phase II (2x500 MW) of the power plant and the second unit is also in advance stage of completion," it said.
Bhel has been a major partner of West Bengal in the power development programme of the state; 73 per cent of the coal based generating capacity of West Bengal is equipped with Bhel supplied sets, the statement said.
Chaudhry informed that the Department of Public
Enterprises is monitoring the capital expenditure of PSUs in respect of the targets fixed for 2015-16 and submitting a monthly report to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
"Every month we have to monitor this (capex) and submit a report to the PMO. As a result, their (CPSEs) performance has started improving," he said.
Besides, Geete said that the final decision regarding disinvestment of PSUs on the report submitted by NITI Aayog will be taken by the concerned Ministry of the respective PSU.
NITI Aayog had submitted its proposal to the Prime Minister's Office on strategic sale, privatisation of PSUs and closure of loss-making units.
The NITI panel, headed by its Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya with CEO Amitabh Kant and other members on board, has prepared a detailed blueprint on PSU reforms. The Aayog has already submitted two lists of PSUs for strategic sale and closure or sale of sick units.
Although the panels' recommendation has not been made public, some media reports suggest that it has pitched for reducing the government's stake to 49 per cent or below in PSUs at one go under the strategic sale option.
