Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGenco) is scouting for new avenues to utilise the services (allotment of work) of its surplus workforce at its disposal now, following the implementation of the D.M. Dharmadhikari report on the division of employees between the power utilities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
As the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) — that also runs the 2×600 megawatt thermal power station at Pegadapalli near Jaipur in Mancherial district — has decided to outsource the operations and maintenance of the project, the Genco has decided to participate in the bidding. “If successful, TSGenco will get the O&M contract of the power plant for a period of five years and it will enable the management to adjust its surplus workforce,” a senior engineer said.
Apart from the 655 employees, mostly engineers, who were allotted to Telangana from AP recently after the Supreme Court ruling for the implementation of the one-man committee report in toto, the Genco has some surplus staff following the retirement of 8 units of the Kothagudem Thermal Power Station with the generation capacity of 720 mw – 4×60 MW and 4×120 MW.
More technical staff would be at its disposal with the expected retirement of two more units of 250 MW capacity in the coming years in tune with the Environment Ministry’s directions to shut all sub-critical thermal units in a phased manner. The two units have already served for about 25 years each.
“The surplus workforce could be adjusted in the 5×800 MW Yadadri Thermal Power Station once it is commissioned and for the remaining two units of the 4×270 MW Bhadradri Thermal Power Station, but till then they have to be adjusted somewhere and the O&M contract would be the appropriate choice,” the sources said.
As the norms for getting environmental clearance to the thermal power projects is getting harsher by the day, the Genco also has plans to avail the land available in KTPS following the retirement of 720 MW capacity units for solar power generation, although establishing an ultra super critical thermal plant is also in its plans. At present, the Genco has only 1 MW of solar power generation capacity of its own. Genco officials stated that a prospective developer has recently given a presentation on the possibility of establishing an ultra super critical thermal unit in the land available in KTPS.
