Himachal power board ‘reeling under graft’

Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) is reeling under corruption and it has caused financial losses to the board. This was stated by Lokender Thakur, convener of HPSEBL’s Joint Action Committee (JAC), during a meeting here on Sunday.

He said there was an immediate need to stop corrupt practices while emphasising that huge irregularities had also come to light in day to day payments being made in the board. Thakur said it was decided in the meeting that the committee would prepare a chargesheet against the erring officers and send it to the government so that misappropriation of Rs 4,000 crore could be controlled.

Hira Lal Verma, co-convener, said the electricity board was witnessing a steep downfall due to the new experiments being conducted by the government and the management.

He said the committee strongly opposed the blanket ban imposed on protests outside the electricity board office complexes by the management and in this regard, it was decided that a 21-day notice be given to the management to cancel such orders. He said the JAC demanded new recruitments in the electricity board to provide better services to the people of the state and demanded an immediate stop on the process of abolition of posts in the name of rationalisation in the board. He further said the JAC opposed giving the work to upgrade 66 KV and above power substations in the board to the state transmission corporation and said that it was against the core principles and spirit of the reorganisation plan of 2010. On one hand, it would delay these works, while on the other hand, there would be an additional burden of expenses on the consumers, he said.