Haryana goes for major power reform initiative

In a major power reform initiative, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday approved of the move to engage distribution franchisees for Gurgaon and Panipat through an open bidding process.

This would bring in efficiency of private sector management without losing ownership of the assets, he said while presiding over a meeting of senior officials to discuss the strategy and action plan for loss reduction, theft control and distribution reforms in the power sector in the State.

In his presentation, Financial Commissioner (Power) Madhusudan Prasad pointed out that the distribution franchisee would not only help in controlling losses for these areas but also vastly improve consumer satisfaction. There would be no retrenchment of employees, he added.

The presentation was based on a study by a team of engineers from Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) after visiting Bhiwandi in Maharashtra, where the experiment has been very successful.

Mr. Hooda also reviewed the position of AT&C losses and directed both the distribution companies, DHBVN and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), to launch a campaign to check these. He also directed them to achieve a major reduction and bring down the “loss levels” to 25 per cent by March 31, 2010.

He also appealed to all power consumers in the State to cooperate and added that firm action would be taken against defaulters or those caught stealing or tampering with meters. The State Home Secretary and Director-General of Police were directed to register FIRs and empowered to make arrests.

DHBVN Managing Director Anurag Aggarwal said that a drive had been launched from December 1 initially in the urban and industrial areas and would now be extended to rural areas.

UHBVN Managing Director Vijayendra Kumar disclosed that feeder/division/circle-wise targets had been given and officers would be held responsible if these were not met.

Mr. Hooda said incentives should be provided to consumers to go in for proper metering He supported the UHBVN in its approach on “no metering, no transformer”.