E-Paper
Fill vacant BBMB posts, engineers’ body urges Union power minister
AIPEF chief patron Padamjit Singh, in a letter to Union power minister RK Singh, on April 10, demanded that Punjab and Haryana governments should be directed to form a panel of two or three senior power engineers and irrigation engineers
All-India Power Engineers’ Federation (AIPEF) has urged the Union power minister to fill the posts of member (power) and member (irrigation) of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) on nomination basis from Punjab and Haryana at the earliest.
AIPEF chief patron Padamjit Singh, in a letter to Union power minister RK Singh, on April 10, demanded that Punjab and Haryana governments should be directed to form a panel of two or three senior power engineers and irrigation engineers, respectively, as per previous practices so that the ministry of power can select a member (power) and member (irrigation).
The Punjab Reorganisation Act-1966 makes it clear that since posts of chairman, member (irrigation) and member (power) are “whole time” posts, these must be occupied on a full time basis without any dual charge.
AIPEF spokesperson VK Gupta said on December 30, the government approved the current duty charge (CDC) of the post of member (power) to generation chief engineer SS Dhadwal till the date of his superannuation on February 28. Similarly, BSL project chief engineer SD Sharma has been given the current duty charge for a maximum period of six months.
The term of the BBMB chairman is expiring on July 1 and the government has reportedly received 25 applications for the same.
The post of the member (power) has been lying vacant since February 28 and the BSL chief engineer has been given the dual charge of the post of the member (irrigation). If the post of the BBMB chairman is not filled after July 1, it would be against the Punjab Reorganisation Act.
The Government of India must complete the selection process in time to avoid an approaching crisis in the BBMB during the paddy season, they said.
