Ramagundam Plant: Power Engineers Association opposes joint venture with Singareni

The JAC formed by the engineers wants the proposed thermal power station, wholly owned by Genco and not as a joint venture with Singareni Collieries.

Hyderabad: The State government’s decision to construct an 800 MW supercritical thermal power station in Ramagundam of Peddapalli district in a joint venture between TGGENCO and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is snowballing into a controversy with the Telangana State Power Engineer Association opposing the joint venture. The JAC formed by the engineers wants the proposed thermal power station, wholly owned by Genco and not as a joint venture with Singareni Collieries.

Recently, the State government issued orders asking GENCO and SCCL to form a joint venture and construct the thermal plant at Ramagundam. The government asked both the authorities to work out the modalities to form a joint venture to construct the power plant. The GENCO was directed to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) within one month and submit it to the government.

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The Association during its general body meeting recently, strongly opposed the joint venture and urged the government to hand over construction of the plant exclusively to GENCO. The association members pointed out that it was nothing but encouraging privatisation as the Centre has 49 percent stake in Singareni. All employees and engineers of the power utilities in the State were in favour of setting up a new power plant through Genco, and under no circumstances would they accept a JV with Singareni, the JAC claimed.

The JAC members have been protesting the government decision by sporting black badges since September 26, and requested the Chief Minister to intervene in the matter and ensure that the new power plant was established by GENCO.

Members of the Telangana Power Employees Joint Action Committee (TGPEJAC) on Friday staged a protest in all the circle offices, corporate offices and generating stations across the State demanding the government to hand over the construction work of Ramagundam power plant to Genco. The JAC leaders said that GENCO was exclusively created to set up power plants in the State, whereas the Singareni was basically a coal mining company and it did not have expertise on constructing power plants, hence involving it in the construction work of the power plant was not advisable.

The JAC leaders claimed that if the plant was constructed in joint venture, the GENCO would lose its identity. The construction and operation and maintenance of all the power plants in the State, except Singareni power plant at Jaipur are being done by GENCO.