Chandigarh: Goenka Group set to take over power department

Subsidiary of the conglomerate’s flagship firm makes highest bid of ₹871 crore for privatisation of Chandigarh electricity department; Union cabinet to give final approval

Kolkata-based industrial and services conglomerate RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RPSG) Group is all set to take over the Chandigarh electricity department.

The decision to privatise the Chandigarh electricity department was taken on May 12, 2020, after directions from the Centre

On Wednesday, the group’s flagship Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC)’s wholly-owned subsidiary Eminent Electricity Distribution (EED) quoted the highest bid for the department.

“EED quoted a bid of around ₹871 crore against the reserve price of ₹175 crore,” said a senior UT official privy to the development. The next highest bid of ₹606 crore was made by Torrent Power (see box).

EED was one of the seven companies in the race for taking over the department, others being Sterlite Power, ReNew Wing Energy, NTPC Electric Supply Company Limited, Adani Transmission Limited, Tata Power and Torrent Power.

Originally, 21 companies had bought the request for proposal, but only these seven entered the bidding stage. On Tuesday, technical bids of all the seven companies were approved, following which the financial bids were opened on Wednesday.

The process was stayed by the high court twice.

“The final bid report will now be submitted to the empowered committee on power privatisation headed by the UT adviser. After its approval, the report will be forwarded to the Union government. The Union cabinet will take the final decision. The entire process is likely to be finished within a short time,” said the official, who did not wish to be named.

The decision to privatise the electricity department was taken on May 12, 2020, after directions from the Centre. The UT had committed to finish the process by the year-end but it got entangled in legal battles, as the UT Powermen Union approached the Punjab and Haryana high court against privatisation. The move also elicited criticism from resident welfare associations and opposition parties.

The process was stayed by the high court twice. Most recently, on May 28, the HC had applied the brakes on privatisation, and even pulled up the administration for its “undue hurry” during a raging pandemic. On both occasions, the administration had approached the Supreme Court, which allowed the process to continue. The HC will be taking up the case again on Thursday.