Power privatisation: Chandigarh admn sends final bid report to MHA

Now, the final note on the privatisation process will be submitted with the Union cabinet for its approval. After its consent, the power department will be handed over to the private player

After getting UT administrator VP Singh Badnore’s nod, the Chandigarh administration has sent the final bid report on privatisation of the electricity department to the ministry of home affairs (MHA).

The Chandigarh administration has zeroed in on Eminent Electricity Distribution to take over the electricity department.

Now, the final note on the privatisation process will be submitted with the Union cabinet for its approval. After its consent, the department will be handed over to the private player.

The administration has zeroed in on Eminent Electricity Distribution (EED), a whole-owned subsidiary of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group’s flagship Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, to take over the department after it bid ₹871 crore against the reserve price of ₹175 crore.

The bid was highest among those quoted by seven firms, which included Sterlite Power, ReNew Wing Energy, NTPC Electric Supply Company Limited, Adani Transmission Limited, Tata Power and Torrent Power.

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 after the UT Powermen Union approached the Punjab and Haryana high court against the move.

The process was twice stayed by the high court. On May 28, HC had applied the brakes on privatisation, and even pulled up the administration for its “undue hurry” during a raging pandemic. Earlier, the HC had stayed the process on December 1.

On both occasions the administration had approached the Supreme Court, which allowed the process to continue.

The move has elicited criticism from different quarters, including employee’ unions, resident welfare associations and opposition parties. It was on a petition of the unions that the HC had stayed the process. However, with the Union government pushing for it, the administration has put it on fast track.