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Power regulatory commission constituted in Haryana

The Haryana Power Regulatory Commission came into existence on Monday with the swearing in of V S Ailawadi as its chairman and Ramesh Chander as member (finance).

State Governor Mahabir Prasdad administered the oath of office and secrecy to them at a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.

Ailawadi is a retired IAS officer from the state while Ramesh Chander retired as senior deputy comptroller general of India.

Chief Minister Bansi Lal, Home Minister Mani Ram Godara, Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, Minister of State for Power Attar Singh Saini and senior officials of the state government were present at the swearing-in ceremony.

Talking to newsmen, Bansi Lal said P S Chobey, chief engineer with the Central Electricity Authority, would be sworn in as another member of the commission after his retirement shortly.

He said the commission would issue new licences for power generation, fix power tariff and listen to consumer complaints. The government would have no control over the commission, the recently-constituted Haryana Power Generation Corporation and the Haryana Power Transmission Corporation.

The chief minister said for power distribution, two companies, one of them a joint venture, would be constituted. The state would be divided into two zones and the companies would take care of the requirements of one zone each.

The joint venture company, to be constituted in six months, would invite global tenders.

Bansi Lal reiterated that there would be no retrenchment of the State Electricity Board employees after the new companies come into being. The entire staff would be absorbed into the new entities, and the terms and conditions of service of the board employees would remain unchanged, he said.

He said the farmers would continue to get power at the current subsidised rate of 50 paise per unit. The loss incurred on this count would be borne by the government.

The power plants in the state would now be looked after by the GENCO, while the power transmission and distribution would be with the TRANSCO for the time being.

Ranjit Issar, former chairman of the State Electricity Board, would look after power distribution in addition to his present assignment as chairman-cum-managing director of TRANSCO.

Answering a question, the chief minister said that 24-hour power supply would be ensured in the state by July 1999.

He said that Haryana had become the second state in the country after Orissa to constitute the new entities, which would enable the state to get one per cent concession in interest on power finance corporation loans.

UNI

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