Chandigarh, November 26
Far from learning from its mistakes and stopping the practice of establishing rest houses in constituencies of its political masters, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) is on way to creating a new facility in Ghubaya village in the Jalalabad constituency.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal represents Jalalabad in the state Assembly.
The board has floated tenders for getting a three-bedroom rest house, along with a meeting hall, constructed in the village alongside the 220 kV substation there. An estimate of Rs 50 lakh has been made for the building alone. Furnishings and recurring expenditure will involve an extra expenditure. The work is yet to be entrusted to a contractor. As before a “need” has arisen to have a rest house at Jalalabad.
Board Chairman HS Brar says since there is a 220 kV substation in the village, there is a need to have a rest house to house technical teams in case of a breakdown.
The PSEB maintains that there is a load growth in the area due to creation of more substations and a rest house is needed to take care of all eventualities, including creating a space for holding meetings.
However, this “need” is clearly not replicated in other such substations. In fact, few of the heaviest grids in the state that cater to the industrial sector, including the 220 kV substation at Gobindgarh, do not have a rest house attached to them. Compared to Gobindgarh and similar stations like Lantokalan (Ludhiana) and Jamsher (Jalandhar), the Ghubaya station stands nowhere. The station caters to the load of the border area.
All-India Power Engineers Federation Chairman Padamjit Singh, who has served in the PSEB, says each grid, including the one at Ghubaya, has residences for a senior substation engineer as well as substation attendants. He said technical teams of the protection and maintenance organisation attended to breakdowns if any.
“Such teams, which normally come from nearby areas, never stay in rest houses”, the former engineer said. He said the PSEB rest houses already existed in nearby Ferozepur and Muktsar.
Claiming that the Ghubaya rest house was being created for political considerations alone, the Power Engineers Federation chief said constraints of funds was the most serious problem facing the PSEB in expanding its transmission system.
He said a majority of 132 kV and 220 kV substations and lines were overloaded because of lack of funds to augment the system.
“In such a situation how can a cash strapped utility under a Rs 7,500 crore plus debt make rest houses,” he maintained. (Concluded)
