The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) management has served charge sheets on 23 engineers and three clerks, all of whom are accused of having caused a huge revenue loss to the corporation by issuing a large number of temporary power connections in gross violation of rules in Gautam Buddha Nagar district under the Meerut discom.
All the 23 engineers were last week transferred from Noida and Greater Noida to far-off districts in eastern UP while the three clerks were shifted within the Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (PVVNL), also called the Meerut discom.
The action comes amid the power engineers regularly holding protests every day in the 18 districts under PVVNL and the UP Rajya Vidyut Parishad Abhiyanta Sangh, an engineers’ body, threatening a state-wide stir against what they term as the “arbitrary” transfer of 23 engineers.
UPPCL chairman M Devraj said charge sheets were served on all the accused and further action would be taken against them, depending on how they defend themselves in the reply that they had been asked to file to the charges framed against them.
“On Saturday, we served charge sheets on 23 engineers and three clerks, asking them to respond to the charges within three weeks,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“On Saturday, we served charge sheets on 23 engineers and three clerks, asking them to respond to the charges within three weeks,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“All the accused will get sufficient opportunity of being heard before the competent authorities take further departmental action against them,” he added.
Devraj said that a three-member probe committee found that 23 engineers and three clerks issued temporary electricity connections, throwing all the norms to the winds to illegally benefit the consumers concerned while causing huge revenue loss the corporation. The accused include 12 junior engineers and three executive engineers.
Temporary power connections, under the rules, are issued for the purpose of construction of house, building and attract a higher tariff than the regular connections that later replace temporary ones after the constriction is over. According to the UPPCL chief, all types of irregularities were committed in issuing temporary power connections in GB Nagar.
“For example, connections of lower KWs (kilowatts) were issued for construction of huge buildings where connections of greater KWs needed to be given,” he said.
All the 23 engineers, Devraj said, were moved out of the Meerut discom and the three clerks transferred within the same discom on the basis of the probe committee’s findings. He dismissed the Abhiyanta Sangh’s allegations that the accused were transferred without any prior probe.
UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad chairman Avadhesh Kumar Verma, in the meantime, on Sunday claimed that irregularities in issuing temporary power connections in Noida must have caused the corporation a revenue loss to the extent of ₹100 crore.
“We demand the state government intervene into the matter and appoint an independent probe committee to conduct a fair conduct investigation and punish the guilty,” he demanded.
“We also demand the government to ensure that the relevant files and documents are taken into safe custody lest the accused destroy the evidence,” Verma added.