PSEB to be bifurcated into 2 corpns
Manpreet Randhawa
hindustantimes.com
CHANDIGARH

: After seven years and 14 extensions, the Punjab government on Wednesday finally decided to seek the nod of the Council of Ministers next week 14 for unbundling of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).
The decision to get the Cabinet approval was taken during a meeting between the Principal Secretary, Power and Irrigation, Arun Goel and the chairman and senior officials of the PSEB in Chandigarh.

It was also decided that ini- tially the PSEB would be bifur- cated into two corporations.
While one will deal with power transmission, the other would manage power generation and distribution.

Sources said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had given his go-ahead for unbundling of the PSEB last week.

Sources said in order to pla- cate engineers' associations of

the PSEB, the Punjab gov- ernment has decided to appoint or nominate a PSEB engineer as the Managing Director of one of the proposed corpora- tions, while the other may be headed by a senior civil ser- vant.
In order to fend off fears of PSEB employees and various farmers organisations, which are apprehending that unbundling was a just a step towards privatisation, the state government has decided to adopt the Gujarat model.

According to this model, the Punjab government would have to seek prior approval of the Vidhan Sabha in case it decid- ed to sell or lease out proper- ty and assets of the two corporations to a third party.

According to senior Punjab officials, it is only the reor- ganisation of PSEB to bring about more transparency and accountability to its function- ing.

This would also usher com- petitiveness between the two wings to outdo each other in terms of annual performance The Punjab government has already issued preventive orders and imposed Section 144 of the Procedure of Criminal Code (CrPC) all over the state in case of any possible unrest among employees of the PSEB.

The government has also instructed the deputy com- missioners to organise night vigil in Punjab villages to thwart any sabotage attempt by unruly elements.