PSEB UNBUNDLING Cabinet meeting on April 15 likely

Submitted by lovekesh on Thu, 08/04/2010 - 7:08am

PSEB UNBUNDLING
Cabinet meeting on April 15 likely
Jangveer Singh/TNS

Chandigarh, April 7
The state government is in the process of convening a meeting of the Cabinet on April 15 to consider a draft proposal for the unbundling of the PSEB. According to sources, the Cabinet would be presented a proposal calling for the bifurcation of the PSEB into two separate entities to comply with the new Electricity Act, 2003. The government proposes to restructure the PSEB into two companies with transmission being separated from distribution and generation, which will form the second company.

Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal said the Cabinet was most likely to meet on April 15 and that the issue of the unbundling of the PSEB would be taken up at the meeting. Sources said in case the draft proposal was approved by the Cabinet, it would be notified immediately. The state Power Department has also prepared a draft notification so that the government is able to meet the April 15 deadline for the unbundling of the PSEB.

Meanwhile, sources said the PSEB Engineers Association had given its go-ahead for the bifurcation of the board. The government had also agreed to the demand of the engineers that only technocrats should head the companies formed after the splitting of the PSEB.

The government is simultaneously trying to take major unions on board. Though CM Parkash Singh Badal will hold formal talks with the unions on April 9, preliminary talks have started and employees have been assured that their service conditions will not change. Employees have also been assured of a common seniority and the government may even go for a tripartite agreement with the employees and the managements to ensure the rights of the employees are protected in the new organisations.

Chander Parkash adds from Ferozepur: Punjab will be provided with foolproof security cover within a few days to prevent any untoward incident during the unbundling of the PSEB by the end of the second week of this month.

For this task, a considerable number of companies of the IRB, PAP and Punjab Commandos will be deployed in nooks and corners of the state. Joint Control Rooms, which will be handled by civil, police and PSEB officials, will start functioning at every district headquarters of Punjab.

Preventive arrests of elements, who are suspected to be potential trouble makers in the coming days, have started already.

DELAY IN COMMISSIONING OF THERMAL UNITS
PSERC urged to fix responsibility
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 7
The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has been urged to fix responsibility for causing a loss of about Rs 2,600 crore to the PSEB due to delay in the installation and commissioning of units III and IV of the stage II of Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat. The expenditure incurred on the project was Rs 2,356.86 crore by March 2009 against the estimated cost of Rs 1,789.67 crore

“Due to substantial time overrun in the execution of both units, the board was saddled with additional capital costs of Rs 564.19 crore coupled with extra avoidable expenditure of Rs 2,061 crore on the purchase of power at a high rate. Power had to be purchased due to delay in the completion of both units,” says a CAG report. The delay in the commissioning of these two units was also highlighted in these columns.

President of the BKU (Rajewal) said after fixing the responsibility, the commission should direct the state government to take action against officials concerned.

Rajewal said people, who directly fund the PSEB through tariff fixed by the commission, would have to borne the burden of the loss suffered by the PSEB. He said the commission should go through the CAG report.

The scheduled time period for commissioning units III and IV was December 2006 and March 2007. The unit III was synchronised for a trial operation in February 2008 and the unit IV in August 2008. Due to the synchronisation of the units without ensuring completion of all works, the period of trial operation was prolonged. The unit-III was commercially commissioned only in October 2008 and the unit IV was not commissioned till August 2009 when the audit was conducted. However, now both the units are operational.

Prolonged period of trial run resulted in the excess consumption of inputs of Rs 18.17 crore, which could not be recovered from the BHEL. It was given the task to set up the units in the absence of enabling clause, adds the CAG report.

The board not only failed to fulfill the primary objective of bridging the demand gap but also deprived itself of the benefit of interest rebate and interest subsidy for which it was entitled in case the project had been completed in the stipulated period.