Power PSU engineers blame RInfra for project delays

Engineers of power PSUs have blamed Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) for delays in the setting up of Damodar Valley Corp's Raghnathpur thermal power project in West Bengal and demanded its blacklisting for alleged defects in the construction, while the company said that the issue has been resolved.

All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), a body that includes engineers from from DVC, has written to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), alleging that the defective construction at the 2x600 MW Raghunathpur power plant had delayed the project.

The project is likely to be commissioned by March/April next year, one year behind schedule.

A spokesperson of Reliance Infra, which is the EPC contractor for the project, claimed that the issue had been resolved and construction at the site was continuing.

"The matter is resolved after the joint discussions between RInfra, DVC, SEC and Paharpur Cooling officials. Construction at DVC's Raghunathpur Thermal Power project is in full swing," the spokesperson said.

DVC officials declined comments on the issue.

The engineers body said that because of issues with the construction, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has not assigned any commissioning dates to the project.

AIPEF has represented to the Ministry of Power for blacklisting of the EPC contractor, Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra), the federation said in a letter to power ministry.

RInfra was awarded contract to build boiler, turbine and generator for the power plant. It sub-contracted part of its jobs to Chinese company Shanghai Electric Corp (SEC) and Paharpur Cooling Towers for construction of natural graft cooling tower.

"The deployment of lesser quantity of steel was not an unintended or inadvertent error but an action of calculated and deliberate fraud for which the case should be handed over to the CBI as well as Technical Examiner wing of CVC," AIPEF said.

The work on the cooling tower of the thermal project was stopped in October last year, AIPEF said in the letter.

DVC is taking steps to address the technical issues relating to defective construction of cooling tower. However, the vigilance related aspects are in the background, with absolutely no priority.

AIPEF is of the view that RInfra should be barred from any such contract in the future.

A party which has been caught red-handed in fraudulent construction practice cannot be trusted, it said.