Central government’s power engineers have sought revocation of the new policy of the Union power ministry, which mandates engineers of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to spend nine years in central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) and state-run power distribution companies (discoms) to “upgrade their technical skills through field exposure”. In a letter written to power secretary Sanjiv Nandan Sahai, the Central Water and Power Engineering Services Association (CWPESA) has pointed that these engineers are recruited through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and existing laws do not allow such gazetted officers to be posted in CPSUs.
CWPESA’s letter, reviewed by FE, stated that engineers in CEA are tasked with specialised duties related to the formulation of technical standards for power infrastructure, load forecasting and planning capacity building trajectories, and posting them arbitrarily “erodes the sanctity of selection through UPSC”.
