Waste RetrievalPSEB takes up ‘re-engineering’
Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 8
Apparently fed up with wastage of material, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has finally adopted ‘re-engineering’ process in its distribution system which led to huge savings of more than Rs 8 crore in terms of material.

During his tour of various PSEB zones in Punjab, HS Brar, board’s member, (distribution), had observed that some of the material from each zone could be spared by adopting best of available engineering practices.

Accordingly, he passed on instructions to each zone. As a result, as many as, 12,547 poles, 220 tower rails, channels, GI Pins, X arms, top hampers, disc insulators, GO switch, stay sets, stay wires, shackle insulators, egg insulators, and D-Straps worth Rs 8 crore were spared without spending even a single penny from the board’s funds.

He further added that only 50 per cent of material had so far been identified and spared and by continuing the efforts, the board would be able to save another Rs 8 crore.

With the availability of this additional material, PSEB could be able to release all 35,000 tubewell connections, for which test reports had been issued. He said about 17,000 applications for tubewell (AP) connections were pending till December 31, 2008. In December 2008 only, about 3,000 nos. AP connections had been released.

On energy saving front, he said he had passed on the necessary instructions to each zone and about 150 villages had already achieved 100 per cent CFL status in the state. The work for converting another 500 villages into 100 per cent CFL villages was on.

He said due to the ongoing efforts, the PSEB had been able to rope in big institutions in this campaign to save power. Educational institution like RIMT Gobindgarh, Lovely University, Jalandhar, had shown keen interest and were replacing all GLS bulbs by CFLs.

The Golden Temple, Amritsar, Gurdwara Sahib in Muktsar, Khanna Mandi have become trendsetters in this move. He said by March 31, there would be no GLS bulb in PSEB offices and colonies. “More than 1,250 GLS bulbs have been changed and same number of CFL bulbs have been installed at the Golden Temple. The process is still on,” said Brar.