Bajwa rubbishes Sukhbir's claim on Punjab's power situation

Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa today rubbished the claim of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal that Punjab would be a power surplus state with the inauguration of the Thermal Power Plant at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district.
Launching the third phase of his mass contact programme, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president alleged Sukhbir has a habit of telling lies and boasting in public.
The Talwandi Sabo thermal plant would generate only 30 per cent of its total 1900 MW capacity, he claimed.
Bajwa said the people of Punjab must prepare for a fresh hike in the power tariff, claiming that electricity produced by Talwandi Sabo and Rajpura thermal plants would be 25 per cent costlier than other thermal plants and 50 per cent than power generated by hydroelectric projects.

He said while Ropar and Bathinda thermal plants were Public Sector projects, the Talwandi Sabo and Rajpura thermal plants are fully owned by private companies and the Punjab government has not imposed any ceiling on power tariff.
The shortage of coal for thermal plants was another bottleneck which the SAD-BJP government has failed to anticipate, he claimed.

The Congress leader asked Sukhbir about the fate of his earlier announcements of Express Highway between Mohali and Amritsar and Metro Rail projects in Ludhiana and Mohali.
He said the SAD-BJP government has failed to come up with an industrial policy though Sukhbir had on regular intervals issued statements that it would be notified next month.

Bajwa said the SAD leadership was fully exposed on the issue of drug menace in Punjab. He feared that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) which is contesting the Assembly elections in Delhi would spread the roots of drug menace to the national capital and other states as well.