Chandigarh, December 31
All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has once again appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for personal intervention regarding the arbitrary actions and adhocism in the Punjab power sector. Chairman AIPEF Shailender Dubey has urged the CM to withdraw arbitrary and vindictive transfer orders, restore due process and technical autonomy in power utilities, uphold the sanctity of the Tripartite Agreement and take confidence-building measures to restore industrial peace and protect the long-term interests of Punjab’s power sector and its consumers.
“The alarming developments in Punjab’s power sector continue to adversely affect its technical integrity, institutional stability and industrial harmony in PSPCL. Despite the seriousness of the issues raised, no remedial action has been observed so far. On the contrary, the situation has further deteriorated. Engineers and employees across the power sector continue to agitate against arbitrary and vindictive actions”, asserted Dubey.
Dubey further said that this action of the management and government appears to be a mala fide attempt to suppress the ongoing agitation and has been widely perceived as punitive and vindictive. “The actions that needs corrective actions include arbitrary suspension and removal of senior engineers, undermining due process and professional morale, proposed sale of power sector assets, jeopardizing future infrastructure needs, financial health of utilities, and consumer tariffs, besides violating provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, growing political interference and reliance on non-technical consultants, eroding institutional professionalism and threatening operational reliability, violation of the Tripartite Agreement through dilution of qualifications and ad-hoc appointment of CMDs, weakening of the state generation sector, particularly the move away from public sector development of the 2×800 MW Ropar project, which may lead to costlier power and higher tariffs, and Draft Electricity Amendment Bill, 2025, which dilutes the role of states in a concurrent subject and favours”, he pointed out.
Dubey also said that instead of defusing the situation, recent actions of the management have further aggravated tensions and added fuel to the fire, while adding, “Under the present circumstances, AIPEF has the duty to caution the Government about the rapidly growing unrest arising from undue political interference in the power sector.”
Meanwhile, AIPEF Media Advisor V.K.Gupta has informed hat Joint Action Committee of power sector employees, engineers and pensioners held a meeting with CMD Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and informed him about the issues being faced by them. “The management only informed that their views will be sent to Punjab government for further action as they are to decide all the issues since PSPCL is not competent to decide these issues”, he remarked.
