Power Engineers criticise Punjab govt for not giving cash subsidy to PSEB

ROPAR:Padamjit Singh Chairman All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) crticised the Punjab Government for not giving cash subsidy to PSEB in lieu of free power and opting for adjustment against previous loans.

 



Padamjit  said that this was against the section 65 of Electricity Act 2003 and would bankrupt the state electricity board. PSEB would have to take more debts to clear earlier loan payments and to keep the power houses running. Time is coming when board may find it difficult even to pay the salary of staff.

He was addressing a large gathering of over 200 engineers at Ropar Thermal Plant. Shaliender Dubey Secretary General AIPEF and HS Bedi President PSEB Engineers Association also addressed the gathering.


Padamjit  emphasised the need of capacity addition in state sector in Punjab. He further said that Punjab should learn from the mistake committed by central government in relying excessively on private sector for capacity addition in the 9th plan.

Punjab must explore capacity addition through all available means through private public partnership, Joint ventures with NTPC/NHPC etc. and entirely through state funding as in case of Haryana, Rajasthan. Punjab needs only 20% equity i.e. an investment of Rs 800 Cr in 3 years i.e. about 260 Cr per annum to set up a 1000 MW thermal plant where as the balance amount is given as loan by Power Finance Corporation.

Shaliender Dubey Secretary General of AIPEF condemned the policy of franchises being adopted by different states as the new backdoor method of privatization of power sector. He said that this would take the power sector to pre independence days when small private distributors served only the powerful urban consumers. He said that the Franchises are only interested to maximize the profits and are unlikely to make long term investments.

He further said that PSEB is well performing board and should not be unbundled.

He said that the privatization of distribution sector in Orissa and Delhi has failed miserably. Even the Governments appointed committees have criticized the actions of state Governments. In Delhi Comptroller and Audit General have said in its report that whole process has been dealt without any transparency and the privatization procedure is a scam of the order of 6500 crores.

HS Bedi President PSEB Engineers Association dwelt on the issue of performance of private and state owned companies after the unbundling of state electricity boards .He said that this is not corporatisation of power sector but bureactisation of power sector.

Now junior IAS officers are manning these companies with no commitment to power sector. He further said that no alleged goal of efficiency, economy and maximization of generation can be achieved if there is no mill power of state Government. Professionals have been sidelined and new experiments are being conducted