Patiala, December 2
Powercom engineers in a massive display of unity urged the Punjab Chief Minister to effectively intervene to restore stability and professional autonomy of PSPCL. Powercom engineers from PSPCL/PSTCL, BBMB, retired senior officers and representatives of various employee and officer unions, participated in a state-level protest meeting held at Patiala today. The meeting was addressed by several senior engineers and employee union
Representatives including Padamjit Singh Patron PSEBEA, M.S. Bajwa, Former President PSEBEA, Y.P. Mehra Ex-Member PSEB, Darshan Bhullar, Retired Dy.Chief Engineer, Avtar Kainth Secretary Bijli Mulazim Sangharshsheel Morcha, Harpal Singh General Secretary PSEB Employees Joint Forum, Gurpreet Singh Gandiwind Convener Bijli Mulazim Ekta Manch and Devinder Singh Patron Council of Junior Engineers.
All the speakers in the meeting showed grave threats to the stability and autonomy of the state power sector, specifically condemning the recent arbitrary actions and growing political interference. They strongly condemned the actions of the Power Minister stating that recent decisions have undermined technical integrity, professional dignity, and institutional processes.
The speakers cited the move to sell power sector properties and assets, hurdles being created in the process of 2×800 MW units at Ropar, the illegitimate suspension of CE/Ropar thermal without due process illegal removal of services of Director/Generation, on the basis of unsubstantiated and fabricated technical grounds and the overall trend of unwarranted political interference in technical, administrative, and procurement decisions within the Power Corporation.
These arbitrary actions have seriously disrupted the functioning of the power sector, undermined the directive of “Zero Power Outage,” and posed a serious threat to the long-term reliability of power supply for the citizens of Punjab.
All speakers expressed strong solidarity with the engineers and unanimously resolved to stand together to safeguard Punjab’s power sector. They firmly opposed any move to sell or compromise public assets of PSPCL/PSTCL and rejected every attempt to create a culture of fear or allow political interference in the functioning of the power sector.
In a resolution they demanded immediately halt the process of sale or monetisation of power sector assets ,immediately resume the process for setting up the 2 × 800 MW supercritical units at Ropar under the State sector, revoke Suspensions and Condemn Illegal removals: Unconditionally revoke the suspension of CE/Ropar and issue a written communication to the Power Department condemning the illegal removal of Director/Generation.
General Secretary Ajaypal Singh Atwal stated that it is deeply concerning that even after one full month since the suspension of CE/RTP and removal of Director Generation not a single piece of evidence has been presented to support the fabricated allegations of a so-called “scam.”
They demanded measures to curb unwarranted political interference in the technical and administrative decisions of the power sector and restrict the influence of external, unaccountable private consultants.
