State may lose Baglihar management to NHPC
SRINAGAR: The state government is contemplating to hand over the management of the prestigious Baglihar Power Project to the National Hydel Power Corporation of India on the pretext of dearth of technical staff, thereby incurring losses on account of costs. The state government’s failure to recruit adequate staff for the maintenance of the project is the main reason for the likely hiring of services of the outside company.
In 2005, the Jammu Kashmir Power Development Corporation (JKPDC) advertised the post of contractual engineers. Chief Secretary S S Kapoor, Secretary to Governor BB Viyas, and the secretary works department, Shailendra Kumar, conducted the interviews in 2006, but the selection list was not issued.
The incomplete recruitment process was the first attempt to provide manpower to the JKPDC, but the Power Ministry of the state didn’t issue the list. A senior official of the PDC said the interviews were transparent and fair. He said the competent authority took time to approve the list, but later shelved it alto¬gether, adding, majority of the selected candidates were from the Valley.
Had the engineers been selected the PDC would have had adequate staff to operate Baglihar. The PDC engineers have been successfully operating and maintaining Lower Jehlum Hydel Power projects for decades without any difficulty. Due to dearth of technical staff, a technical snag which developed in Baglihar recently was corrected after 12 hours.
The state government has received proposals from Siemens Ltd, a foreign company; Jay Prakash Industries Ltd, and the NHPC for managing the project. The Siemens Ltd and Jayprakash Ltd have asked the State government that it would train the staff of the JKPDC for maintaining the project apart from manag¬ing the project for a specific period. The advisor to Governor, C Pungsong, was not available for comment.-SANA
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