It seems that regime change has taken its toll on decisions made earlier by the Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB).
As the Board is taking stock of the decision of appointing franchise for Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad for electricity distribution on Wednesday, indications are that the decision may be put on hold in the light of “growing dissatisfaction among employees and legal aspects.” “The matter has seen a stand-off. The present Government is not much interested in taking the matter forward. Those who did not get a chance are also fueling the issue. This has given the agitating employees a change to come together,” said a senior official of the Board.
Three private companies got selected for distributing electricity in the cities and also collect bills and maintain power supply when former Chief Minister Arjun Munda was holding the charge of the Department. New Power Minister Rajendra Singh had after the review express his willingness to revisit the decision and said that he would look into the cost effectiveness of the plan in terms of revenue for the JSEB.
“There are some who have also challenged the matter into the court citing irregularities in tender process. Employees unions are of the view that it would incur loss of about Rs 30-35 crore to the Board. General feeling in the Government is to downplay the project at least for now,” added the official.