The Northern India Power Engineers Federation (NIPEF) has opposed the move for privatisation of power distribution throughout the country.
NIPEF held its executive meeting here on Sunday. It was attended by all state constituents of the northern region. Padamjit Singh and Shaliendra Dubey chairman and secretary general of All India Power Engineers' Association, respectively, also attended the meeting.
"The move for privatisation of power distribution throughout the country was opposed by power engineers. The conditional bailout financial package announced by the Government of India is a clear move in this direction. The states opting for relief under the financial restructuring plan will have to introduce privatisation of power distribution either through public private partnership mode or through franchisee mode and NIPEF strongly oppose it", said a press release issued here.
The federation also criticised the franchisee model of privatisation of power sector and re-employment of superannuated engineers in Haryana Discoms.
NIPEF secretary general Bhupinder Singh said better operational results could be achieved through departmental execution as demonstrated by Punjab. In the first instance, AT&C losses had been brought down to 12-13% in Patiala. Punjab had been successful in implementing the pillar box scheme for reduction of losses and improvement in quality of supply to rural consumers, he added.
NIPEF chairman RS Dahiya said the executive committee condemned the policy of granting extension beyond superannuation to certain engineers in Haryana. This policy created parallel power structures with vested interests and no accountability in the administrative hierarchy, which is detrimental for the power sector of the state. NIPEF demanded that all such engineers who were on extension after superannuation be removed right away so that the jobs were performed by cadre engineers. Last year, UHBVN granted extension in service to a chief engineer /transmission BBMB against all norms.
{{/usCountry}}NIPEF chairman RS Dahiya said the executive committee condemned the policy of granting extension beyond superannuation to certain engineers in Haryana. This policy created parallel power structures with vested interests and no accountability in the administrative hierarchy, which is detrimental for the power sector of the state. NIPEF demanded that all such engineers who were on extension after superannuation be removed right away so that the jobs were performed by cadre engineers. Last year, UHBVN granted extension in service to a chief engineer /transmission BBMB against all norms.
{{/usCountry}}BBMB move to create its own cadre which is against the Punjab Reorganization Act of 1966. BBMB is a body formed to manage the assets of partner states and the staff is deployed in pre-determined ratio from the partner states. NIPEF criticises the move of BBMB to create its own cadre and demands that this move should be scrapped forthwith.