Double standards of PSPCL management; negative on regular hiring; paying 250 cr pa for vacant posts-PSEBEA

Double standards of PSPCL management; negative on regular hiring; paying 250 cr pa for vacant posts-PSEBEA

Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in

After failing to convince the Punjab state Power Corporation limited (PSPCL) management, PSEB engineers association has approached the chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, to look into the indifferent attitude of the management, towards the power com.

In a representation forwarded to the CM, PSEBEA highlighted “PSEB Engineers’ Association has historically been a vanguard of the Punjab Power Sector and has kept the efficiency of the sector on the top of its agenda. Association represents power engineers of the State who work at ground and have firsthand experience of problems being faced by PSPCL/ PSTCL in providing quality services to consumers. It makes it imperative for PSEBEA to give regular professional feedback to the state for betterment of the power sector in the State.”

Thanks to the commitment of the Punjab Government for its flagship program – ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar’, which has facilitated the employment to the youth of Punjab and thousands of qualified youth have been placed in Government jobs. But it seems that the power corporations’ managements are not aware of the Government’s commitment regarding ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar’.

In the representation, Er Jasvir Singh Dhiman , president of PSEBEA said, “we want to bring to your notice the acute shortage of staff in PSPCL, which in turn is not only denying employment opportunities to the youth of the State but is affecting the services of PSPCL. It appears that the management has adopted a very negative view on regular hiring and filling of vacancies. A glance at the table below will reveal that there are huge vacancies even for the base cadres who are at the forefront in providing power supply. While vacancies in these cadres are in ten of thousand, PSPCL has sent a plan to fill only 3400 vacant posts to the Government.

Er Ajaypal Singh Atwal, secretary of the PSEBEA said , “the management in the name of restructuring, is eliminating essential but vacant posts or filling them with outsourced employees affecting the services”

PSEBEA said ,some of the key issues with this flawed recruitment policy directly affecting the power sector and the finances of the corporation are as below:

A)  Damage to Expensive Electrical Infrastructure

New substations are being commissioned without sufficient shift staff. One of the primary reasons for damage to the expensive electrical infrastructure in distribution is the extreme shortage of qualified technical skilled staff. The damage and the resulting loss to the corporation and the State could have been averted if there was sufficient staff for manning the substations and for carrying out timely maintenance activities of the infrastructure. The damage of electrical equipment is a direct financial loss to the corporation. Even though the DT damage rate of power corporation is comparably low, DT damage rate can be further reduced if there is sufficient manpower for maintenance activities and will save more revenue than the cost of salary of staff required for such maintenance activities.

The staff position at hydel plants is even worse than this, resulting in loss of generation of electricity. Despite all the approvals of the state government, power corporation management has failed to recruit sufficient staff and engineers in the last many years due to lack of administrative acumen. Skilled staff are retiring day by day , due to the gap in recruitment there is no skill transfer from old staff to new staff.

B)  Reckless Outsourcing

The core business activities are being outsourced although there are many reports of expert committees constituted by the management against such reckless outsourcing. The proposals put forth by the Association in this regard are not being implemented.

Management without any proper road map for solving these problems is instead adopting outsourcing in a way which only benefits the contractors, as outsourced employees are paid meagre salaries and are exploited by contractors. Such exploitation of outsourced employees is disrupting industrial peace, brunt of which is being born by the consumers of the State. Under the garb of outsourcing the management of PSPCL, is creating conditions where services to the consumers and thus the image of Punjab Government is taking a hit.

C)  BBMB Vacancy – Loss to State

Due to inaction of PSPCL management 1227 posts (65 posts of class 1 & 2, 721 posts of class 3, 506 no posts of class 4 employees) from Punjab cadre are lying vacant in BBMB. BBMB is on the verge of recruiting its own cadre of Engineers and other staff against Punjab Quota, thus not only depriving the youth of Punjab from employment but also making Punjab’s interest vulnerable. This is a direct loss to Punjab not only in terms of finances but employment opportunities to the youth of the State as well. It is pertinent to mention that PSPCL management is paying more than 250 Cr per annum for the salaries and employee expenses of these vacant posts to BBMB.

D)  Flawed Pay Scales

To attract the best talent in the state power sector, a special feature of allowing a jump of four increments in the scale of Assistant Engineer after four years was incorporated even before the re-organisation of PSEB in 1967, which was subsequently changed to a higher start of 18030 to new engineers. In utter disregard of this policy now Assistant Engineers are being recruited without this higher start which is not only violation of existing tripartite agreement but also exploitation of upcoming managers of the power sector of the state. 

The engineers association requested the chief minister to look into the affairs as, “the management in its short sighted view has failed to realise the damage it is causing to the consumer services, work culture, finances of the corporation and expensive power infrastructure. This is not only affecting the corporation but the economy of Punjab. It is requested that PSPCL management be directed to fill the vacant posts which will not only benefit the youth of the state but will also help provide better consumer services and protect the revenues of the corporation.”

February 17, 2021