The Ministry of Water and Power on Friday night switched on the Nandipur Power Plant after rumours suggested that the plant had been shut due to ‘technical reasons’.
However, ministry’s spokesperson Zafaryab Khan brushed aside claims of any technical fault, terming it a part of ‘negative propaganda’ against the government.
“Facts are quite different. Due to merit order and sufficient electricity available, the plant is run as and when required. There are many other plants which are placed in this mode during winter,” the spokesman said.
Confirming that Nandipur Power Plant had been closed down two days ago as per schedule, the spokesman said that the plant would be run when and if needed.
Asked why the government was resorting to load shedding if there was sufficient power available, the spokesman said that it was true that there was power shortage, compelling the ministry to adopt load shedding schedule.
“Yes, there is power shortage but we are following the load shedding schedule. We turn on Independent Power Producer (IPP) plants only when we face significant shortages as IPPs produce costly power,” he added.
He said that this way, the oil is saved and cost of production lowered which is passed on to the consumers every month.
The spokesman added that all such plants were shut after completing the ‘running hours’.
“There is no technical problem at the plant. This negative propaganda might be part of some other agenda,” the spokesman added.
However, following the rumours, the government had decided to turn on the Nandipur Plant.
Asked whether the plant had been run following media pressure, the spokesman laughed off the notion, saying that most of industries were running at night, necessitating the government to produce more power.
A private TV channel had run a story on Friday, claiming that Nandipur Power Plant had been shut down due to some ‘technical fault’.
The channel, quoting power plant’s chief engineer, claimed that the plant had been shut despite a weeklong costly media campaign which had been telling people that the plant was producing 430MW of power.