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AIPEF vows tooth-and-nail battle against Haryana’s power privatisation order
Power engineers and former finance minister warn granting parallel distribution licence in Gurugram and Nuh will cripple DHBVN and hurt vulnerable consumers.
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Chandigarh: The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has announced it will oppose tooth and nail the move by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) to grant a parallel power distribution licence to Eleven Power Ltd.
In a statement issued on Monday, the federation declared it stands shoulder to shoulder with Haryana’s power employees and engineers. “The AIPEF will extend full support to the decisions taken by the Haryana Power Employees and Engineers Joint Action Committee in its meeting,’’ AIPEF spokesperson Vinod Gupta said.
The commitee said that granting a parallel licence amounts to an indirect privatisation of the power sector in Haryana.
In a joint statement, committee leader Baljit Beniwal said the decision has sparked widespread outrage among power employees and engineers across Haryana. Office-bearers alleged that the state government and the HERC are conspiring to hand over state-owned power utilities to private entities. They said giving high-revenue industrial and commercial hubs like Gurugram and Nuh to a private company is a direct attempt to cripple state utility Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN).
Former Haryana finance minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Sampat Singh termed the move a grave and irreversible assault on the state’s power sector, as well as on the interests of farmers, rural consumers and the poor. He warned that the decision opens the door to a dangerous experiment in a sector where electricity is not an ordinary commodity, but a natural monopoly and essential public service.
“This order did not emerge in a vacuum. It follows sustained pressure and a carefully orchestrated campaign to hand over Haryana’s most profitable power distribution market to a private entity. The state government’s conduct makes it abundantly clear that the decision is not merely that of an independent regulator; it reflects the ideological commitment of the government to dismantle public institutions and transfer public assets, revenues and strategic sectors to private hands,’’ Sampat Singh said.
