Ludhiana: ‘Power panel needs to honour its promises’

Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) chairman Romila Dubey and other members had to face resentment and anger from city industrialists in a public hearing meeting held to take suggestions on tariff revision held at the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) office at Ferozepur Road here on Friday.

Many industrialists boycotted the meeting over unauthorised use of electricity (UUE) cases, raised slogans against the committee and staged dharna outside the community hall.

President of the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association Badish Jindal, asking the PSERC to define its power and roles, said, “When it comes to increasing the tariff, PSERC plays its role, but there is no regulation on the PSPCL in terms of implementation of the promises made by the corporation.”

Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) president Avtar Singh and general secretary Upkar Singh said,

“Regulatory panel not paying heed to the demands of the industry and thus, committee increases the tariff every time after holding such meetings.” He demanded to compare the tariff provided by the neighbouring states to Punjab and then decide the tariff in the state.

President of the Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation Gurmeet Singh Kular said, “We want that peak load times in the industry should be decreased and night tariff should be decreased.”

Aditya Gupta from the Medium and Small Scale Industry Association demanded cross subsidy to the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises’s (MSME). He also suggested the PSPCL to use best commercial properties under corporation, which are lying vacant, to be used for commercial purposes for generating the additional funds.