Alleging gross mismanagement by the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), which had led to consolidated losses of over Rs 33,700 crore in the last 10 years, powermen today demanded the power utility be unified under the erstwhile UP State Electricity Board (UPSEB).
The board was unbundled as UPPCL in 2000 with separate distribution companies (discoms) with a view to ushering in operational efficiency and accountability in the power sector.
“However, in the last 10 years, the annual losses of Rs 405 crore incurred by UPSEB in 1999-2000 have risen to almost Rs 8,469 crore in the current fiscal year. The consolidated losses stand at Rs 33,760 crore,” Power Employees’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) leader Shailendra Dubey said addressing the media here this evening.
“The poor financial health of UPPCL is due to the wrong policies of the management and the state government,” he added.
The powermen have also demanded that the power utility be headed by a technocrat from the power sector rather than a bureaucrat as is the case presently.
“The UPPCL is sinking into debt and is incurring almost Rs 1,296 crore for debt servicing alone every year, while the total salary bill of the employees stand at Rs 1,071 crore,” he mentioned.
Dubey said the demand-supply gap was 500 Mw in 2000, which had risen to over 3,000 Mw. “Besides, there has been no significant addition in the power generation capacity of the state, which shows that the experiment of unbundling the UPSEB has failed and needs to be reversed now.”
“The process of bundling of state power utilities has already started in states like Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and UP is a fit case for a similar step,” he asserted.
JAC would soon present a memorandum to the state government in this regard.
