Jairam Ramesh favours setting up of nuclear plant in Punjab

Nangal, Aug 2 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Power and Commerce Jairam Ramesh today favoured setting up of nuclear power plant in Punjab.

While talking to mediapersons here. he said that nuclear plants were the third source of energy after coal based and hydro power and it was the need of the hour to make the country self sufficient in power.

He said Haryana had already expressed its willingness to set up a nuclear power plant and other states including Punjab should also follow it.

Justifying the nuclear deal, he said it would go a long way in meeting the power demand of the country as the required nuclear fuel would be easily available from other countries. He said that after the deal the country would get 7 per cent additional power by the year 2020 and 15 per cent power by 2030.

In reply to a question regarding the unbundling of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Mr Jairam Ramesh said that it was the NDA government of which the Akali Dal and BJP were part, which had brought the Electricity Act, Haryana had already unbundled its State Electricity Board, which had proved to be a success and Punjab should also follow the same as required under the Act, he added.

He said that a proposal to flout a company in addition to Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) was under consideration of his ministry. He said at present BBMB was not in a position to undertake new projects on its own due to differences with partner states, like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

He said as per the proposal with his ministry, the four partner states would form a company in partnership and BBMB would be its manager so that it could prepare and undertake hydro projects in various other states and in foreign countries like Bhutan.

BBMB Chairman U C Mishra. member (power) N K Arora and Chief Engineer (power) V B Bassi, Chief Engineer (irrigation) T K Parmar were also present on the occasion.

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