The participants will be addressed by H C Mehta, general manager (electrical), Power System, and Dr K Rajamani, chief consulting engineer. "Usually, corporates organise seminars that are to do with their own products. An engineering firm, for instance, would talk about the engineering industry vis-a-vis the current political scenario," says Mehta. "But we saw a crying need for an educative seminar on electrical engineering. After students graduate from engineering college, they don't really train for the specific job they have taken up. Either they have no time or their field of activity is restricted. So they pick up the ropes as they go along, and soon begin to perform their task in a routine manner. They neither upgrade their skills nor stayabreast of what is happening in their field. Often, they even spoil precious equipment by inept handling. This translates into a colossal national waste."

Mehta adds that a power dysfunction in a manufacturing unit could result in losses worth lakhs, even crores, of rupees. "If an electrical engineer feels there is something he cannot tackle, we the doctors are always there for him. But it would certainly help him to familiarise himself with the system he is operating and identify the difficulties he is likely to face. He would be able to avoid and overcome many of those problems himself," he says."We found that when we as consultants spoke to electrical engineers about the intricacies of power supply, they stared blankly at us, not quite comprehending what was being said. Moreover, the number of professionals who have this knowledge is dwindling. But our technical expertise has been built up over a considerable period of time. So we have put those topics on the agenda that are not taught in detail atengineering colleges. We felt a need to give back to the industry that has given us so much," he says.

Two broad subjects will be addressed at the seminar: protection and control equipment, and relay setting and relay coordination. "When you live in a city like Mumbai, a power failure is a rare occurrence. Actually, conditions wherein the power supply could be cut off at any point in the supply chain of the MSEB or Tata Electric, are created quite frequently. There is always a likelihood that the faulty system would fall apart and fail. What we are doing at this seminar is identifying certain software programmes that will enable engineers to identify the point in the supply chain where a fault can occur, and set right the power supply, all within a matter of milliseconds. We will instruct them on how to isolate the faulty area and maintain uninterrupted power supply to the rest of the factory or commercial establishment," Mehta informs.

Since this is the first time Power System Consultants has organiseda seminar of this nature, they requested applications from only their known customers. Mehta was prepared to host about 20 professionals. But the response has been overwhelming. Around three times that number registered from all parts of the country a couple of days before the cut-off date. Electrical engineers with two years of work experience from companies like Indo Gulf Fertilisers, Nocil, Thermax, Gujarat State Fertiliser Company, Gokak Mills, Grasim, Atul and Raymond have registered.

Each participant pays Rs 5,000 for the two-day training programme, which includes the hotel rentals for the seminar as well as the meals and refreshments provided on both days. The participants are expected to make their own arrangements as far as accommodation is concerned, though Power System is providing assistance here.

Mehta says, "Others are known to charge participants Rs 4,000 or more per day, and that too for non-technical subjects. We have conducted this programme on a no-profit-no-loss basis. But we arebuying a lot of goodwill in the process."

He is already encouraged enough by the response to conduct another seminar in this sequence in the winter months.