NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Chowdhury, who held additional charge of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has quit from DVC citing lack of congenial environment at the multi-utility corporation.
DVC is owned by the State governments of West Bengal and Jharkhand and the Centre. It is under the administrative control of the Union Power Ministry.
Mr. Chowdhury took the additional charge in November 2013.
With him, at least two senior executives (one in the rank of an executive director) and nine other NTPC executives have also put in their papers, saying that they were facing harassment at DVC and would seek repatriation to NTPC.
Confirming his departure from DVC, Mr. Chowdhury told The Hindu : “I found that DVC has a potential for being turned around although it is in a very bad shape at present. Its monthly losses are around Rs.200 crore. It has no PPA for 2,000 MW, projects are delayed. I was keen to turnaround DVC… but unfortunately, I did not find the environment congenial for a turnaround,’’ he said, adding that he put in his papers earlier this week.
He, however, clarified that all that he had wanted was a discussion on certain issues and the DVC board had constituted a committee to talk to the stakeholders (the two State governments and the Centre).
It was felt that DVC could hand over some of its functions like irrigation, soil conservation and last mile distribution to the respective State governments and concentrate on some core areas like project delivery. DVC, which is under the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, is the country’s second-largest power generation company with thermal and hydel capacities.
However, Mr. Chowdhury’s move sparked widespread resentment among DVC officials as well as unions, which started resisting such a re-evaluation of DVC’s functions.
