Power Privatisation
Hooda govt on the back foot
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 14
Alarmed at the voices of dissent rising from various quarters from within and outside the Congress, the Haryana government today appealed to all sections of society to rise above the vested interests and support its initiatives aimed at giving good quality and adequate power to the people of the state.

The government has clarified that the announcement regarding distribution franchisees in Gurgaon and Panipat only marks the initiation of the process of study, consultations and debate before actually inviting bids for the purpose.

The experiment with franchising of distribution in the two towns is proposed on a pilot basis and will be undertaken keeping the interests of consumers, power utilities and the state in mind.Contrary to misplaced observations, the experiment does not involve privatisation of assets of power distribution utilities nor does it involve any retrenchment of employees.

The power tariff applicable to different categories of consumers will continue to be determined by the HERC.

A team of DHBVN engineers has visited Bhiwandi in Maharashtra last month and studied the impact of the franchisee experiment there.

The franchisee company has brought down the AT&C losses from 58 per cent to 24 per cent in two years and is still running the show. The government proposes to study all these cases - Bhiwandi, Nagpur, Agra and Kanpur - and learn from these experiences before finalising the model for Gurgaon and Panipat.

Initiatives like the pilot franchisee project for Gurgaon and Panipat are part of the comprehensive effort of the government to minimise inefficiencies in the power sector.The government has appealed to all stakeholders to keep the interests of the consumers, power companies and the state uppermost in mind.

The experiment with distribution franchisee in Gurgaon and Panipat is only on a pilot basis and will be implemented after careful thought, detailed study of lessons learnt from other experiences and consultation with all.

Gurgaon: The MD of DHBVN, Anurag Aggarwal, said today there was no move to privatise the nigam and the government had only agreed in principle to hand over the work of power distribution in certain circles to a franchise. He was talking to mediapersons after visiting the electricity conservation exhibition here on Monday.

The franchisee would not be allowed to charge more from the consumers in its area, he added.

The power nigam chief assured the employees that no retrenchment would take place even after the implementation of the franchise system. Addressing students and visitors at the exhibition, Aggarwal observed that electricity could be conserved by checking power theft. The nigam had launched a scheme, under which a complainant who disclosed theft in his area was given 40 per cent of the penalty amount as reward.