Punjab Newsline
HPSEB employees wants board be converted into one Government company
VINOD KUMAR GUPTA
Monday, 15 June 2009
SHIMLA: Joint front of HPSEB employees and engineers has suggested to Chief Minister Himachal that the state electricity board should be converted in to one Government Company as further extension to keep the board in present form may not be coming.

Suneel Grover Convener of the front in a 90 page document submitted to Chief Minister has urged that after re-organisation of the HPSEB the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile Board should vest in one Government Company. The Government should further seek a time of 6 months to complete all the formalities to convert the board in to one company. The present extension given to the Government to unbundled board expires Monday.

Grover said that this decision has been taken keeping in view the experience of re-organisation of the Boards by different States in to more than one company and on account of unsatisfactory results shown by such re-organised companies. The small state like Himachal can ill afford to have fascination of many companies having many Boards of Directors making the administration heavy headed and least effective and lacking in coherence, he added.

The document suggests that it would be in the fitness of things that both the transfer schemes as contemplated under section 131(1) and section 131(2) of the Electricity Act 2003 are framed and executed simultaneously. If the two schemes are framed at two different times, there may be many unavoidable problems and inconveniences like, mandatory compliances of state and central taxing statutes, accounting patterns, accountability, hierarchical and administrative complexities, commitments towards commercial obligations etc.

The new company should do all the activities of Generation, Transmission and Distribution to ensure that every unit generated at the power house is transmitted, distributed and delivered to the consumer at the very same moment since energy cannot be stored. In the days of power shortage optimum utilization of generation resources and distribution of electricity at least costs can best be achieved only when Generation, Transmission and Distribution agencies work in tandem under one umbrella.

Grover has emphasized in his letter that power system in the state is very small and trifurcation of board is not justified on the scales of economics for small state like Himachal.