Power corp CMD resigns

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 29

Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) KD Chaudhri today resigned from the post, a day after the state government amended rules “to ensure that a technocrat is replaced with a bureaucrat” to head the Rs 26,000-crore company.

The government is yet to appoint a replacement but the new CMD will face a daunting task to run the company which is under a heavy financial burden.

Sources say that Chaudhri sent his resignation, through Secretary, Power, A Venu Prasad and vacated his office here today, following which the government asked Prasad to look after the functioning of the company.

During Chaudhri’s tenure as the head of the company, the power sector in the state took drastic steps as “from a power-hungry state, Punjab turned to be a power-surplus state”. With the previous SAD-BJP government giving extension after extension to Chaudhri, the PSPCL ensured round-the-clock supply to all sectors from the past two years.

Chaudhri was first appointed in June 2010 for a period of one year. Thereafter, he kept getting extensions. The PSEB Engineers Association, a faction of engineers within the PSPCL, was against these extensions. However, the state government continued to back Chaudhri.

The Rs 26,000-crore company, as is claimed by the government, faces a debt of over Rs 25,922 crore and is managing its affairs based on loans.