Bathinda thermal plant: Children of employees join protest against closure

BATHINDA: Lending their support and resisting the proposal of the Punjab government to shut down Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) at Bathinda, 16 unions of farmers, labourers, employees and students held a protest march on Thursday and urged the government to roll back its decision to shut down the plant.

“My family is dependent on my father, who is a class-IV contractual employee here. If the plant shuts down, my father will lose his job and we may have to starve. For the survival of our family and many others like us, the plant is essential,” said a young boy,

Navjosh

, who his missed school to take part in the protest.

Another boy Gurpreet Singh -- holding a placard ‘Nahi chahunda Punjab beimana di sarkar’ (Punjab doesn’t want a corrupt government) -- said, “My family of five members is living on a meager wage of Rs 6,500 of my father, who is a contractual employee at the plant. If the plant is shut down and he loses his job, we may come on the roads. I may also have to quit my school and help my father in running the household. Hence, to show the government that our lives are in its hands, I decided to attend the protest.”

The state government had set up a cabinet subcommittee under health minister

Brahm Mohindra

to suggest the termination of the 460-mw thermal plant. The plant is closed for over two months now and the coal stocks have already exhausted.

“Before elections, the Congress had assured to continue the operations of the plant but after coming to power it has forgotten its promise and now wants to shut it down. With this, nearly 800 contractual employees may get jobless and regular employees would be forced to shifted to other places. We will not allow the government to shut down the plant,” said thermal employees’ union activist Gursewak Singh.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) vice-president

Jhanda Singh Jethuke

said the Congress regime was working just like the previous SAD-BJP regime that render poor people jobless.

“The state government wants to provide monetary benefits to the private players by shutting down the thermal plant, which can still run for another 10 years,” he said.