Punjab Cabinet on Thursday decided to bifurcate Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) into two separate companies with transmission being separated from distribution and generation as part of reforms in compliance of Central Electricity Act 2003 at a meeting held under the chairmanship of chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal.
Over 68,000 employees of PSEB are on a two-day strike from Wednesday night against ?privatisation? of power board. The government is still in talks with the agitating employees.
As part of the restructuring exercise, in the next six weeks, two companies?Power Company (Powercom) to manage generation and distribution and another Transmission Company (Transco) to manage transmission function would become legal entities, state chief secretary SC Agrawal told FE.
?Restructuring will not be privatisation, there will be no private shares in the companies. Both these companies will be fully-owned and managed by the state government,? he added.
?With this decision, the process for power reforms has been completed in Punjab and there would be no need to ask the Centre for another extension?.
For a record, Punjab had sought a record 17 extensions from Centre after the Centre asked state governments to comply with the Central Electricity Act 2003.
Agrawal said, ?The total worth of PSEB has been evaluated at Rs 30,000 crore and final valuation would be available after six months. All the assets of PSEB would be shifted to Powercom. An external liability of loan of Rs 14,000 crore would also be shifted to the new company.?
Agrawal later said, ?There is one transmission company with employee?s strength of 3,500 and rest of the employees around 65,000 with the power company?.
The Cabinet also decided that power subsidy to BPL and SC families too would remain unaffected.
Workers to get all benefits
Punjab government on Thursday assured striking employees of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) numbering over 68,000 that they will continue to get existing benefits and their service conditions will not be changed with the unbundling of the Board.
Punjab chief secretary, SC Agrawal said, ?There will be no change in the service conditions of the employees. They will continue to get the existing benefits including pension, gratuity, leave encashment, dearness allowance and annual increments?. He further added, ?There will be no change in the benefits to the retired employees of the PSEB?.