Engineers against move, write to UT Administrator

Tribune News Service
Patiala November 25

The All-India Power Engineers’ Federation (AIPEF) has demanded that the tender notice for the privatisation of the Chandigarh electricity wing should be withdrawn.

They said the system was already operating efficiently and was making profits. Padamjit Singh, Chief Patron, AIPEF, wrote to UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore: “Privatisation of an essential service just to give additional profits to corporates is not in the public interest and thus, not unacceptable.”

As per the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) tariff order for 2020-21, the department has earned a profit of Rs155.42 crore in 2019-20 and this year, it is expected to be Rs 84.12 crores. VK Gupta, spokesperson for the AIPEF, said in the Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020, there was no proposal to privatise the electricity distribution of union territories, but on June 5, the Finance Minister suddenly made an announcement regarding privatisation of electricity in all UTs of the country.