Panipat: The 250 MW Unit-7 of Panipat Thermal Power Station (PTPS-2) of Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd (HPGCL) achieved a record generation of 1,940 Lakh Units of power during March 2012 at a Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 104.32 per cent which is the highest ever achieved by the unit in a month with negligible oil consumption.

A spokesman of HPGCL said the unit had been giving excellent performance consistently and had achieved an overall PLF of 96.09 per cent during the complete financial year 2011-12.

With the NCR Planning Board having sent financial models for the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) to state governments for approval, the Delhi government has raised objections to the RRTS entering the city. The Delhi government has said the transport system should be limited to the outskirts of the city to avoid “congestion problems.” A meeting in this regard was also held at the L-G’s office recently, but no decision has been reached yet.

Shimla Mulana village of Panipat district has become the first village in Haryana to be completely illuminated with Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps.

The Renewable Energy Department has provided power and solar energy equipments worth Rs. 13.27 lakh to the village, a department spokesperson said.

Panipat: Haryana Power Generation Company Limited (HPGCL) has decided to lease four units of the Panipat Thermal Power Station (PTPS) on long-term basis. The HPGCL’s board in its 86th meeting held on March 15 decided to engage an agency, which would take over the PTPC on long-term basis on lease, rehabilitate units 3 and 4 while operate unit 1 to 4 for 10 years on the basis of competitive bidding.

With the shutting down of six thermal units in four thermal power plants, the power crisis has aggravated, leading to unscheduled cuts ranging between three and eight hours daily. Sources said two 210-MW and 110-MW units at the Panipat thermal power station, one 600-MW unit at Khedar, two 300-MW units at Yamunanagar and one newly commissioned 600-MW unit at Jhajjar thermal power plant were not contributing any power to the state’s kitty which had resulted in a shortage of 428 lakh units every day.

The company’s existing infrastructure in the state suits its expansion plan.

State-run IndianOil Corpo-ration (IOC) may set up its next refinery, a 15 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) unit, on the western coast in Gujarat at an investment of Rs 30,000 crore.

According to a senior IOC official, the country's biggest oil refining and marketing company, which also had Maharashtra in mind, favoured Gujarat, given its crude oil and product pipeline infrastructure.

The shortage of power being faced by the state has hit the local industry hard as the manufacturing cost of industrial goods has gone up by almost 30 per cent, reducing the profit margins. Besides, the frequent interruptions in the supply of electricity have impeded the production in all industries, making it difficult for them to meet production targets.

With four thermal units of 1,610 MW capacity units down, unscheduled power cuts have become the order of the day. Sources in the Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) said two 600 MW units at Khedar thermal plant and one unit each at Yamunanagar and Panipat thermal stations stopped generation affecting the overall pwer situation in the state. HPGCL is withdrawing about 500 MW from the Northern Grid, but is still not able to meet the demand.

The urban population figures of Haryana and Punjab present a study in contrast. While Punjab, with a population of 1,03,87,436 (37.49 per cent) has more urban population than Haryana, which is 88,21,588 (34.79 per cent), Haryana scores over its neighbour in the number of 1 lakh-plus cities.
In a development that indicates large-scale urbanisation, apparently as a result of proximity of districts and towns in the National Capital Region (NCR) to National Capital New Delhi, as many as 20 cities have “plus-1 lakh” status in Haryana as compared to only 17 cities in Punjab.

Gurgaon district administration enforced Section 144 of the CrPC on Monday to ban hookah bars in the city. As per orders, no hookah bar can operate within city premises and those already functional will be shut down.
The move is part of larger plan to make Haryana a nicotine-free state, and the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) has been raiding hookah bars across the state to gather samples of nicotine content in the hookahs served here.