Punjab's power situation is facing fresh pressure, with prolonged cuts affecting industries and other consumers across the state and amid the ongoing crisis, the Punjab government has reshuffled the administrative charge of the Power Department and the state's two major power utilities.
According to an order issued by the Punjab Government's Department of Personnel, IAS officer Gurkirat Kirpal Singh of the 2001 batch has been given charge of the Power Department and New & Renewable Energy Sources Department, in addition to several other responsibilities.
Under the new posting, Gurkirat Kirpal Singh will continue as Principal Secretary, Social Security, Women & Child Development and he has now also been given charge as Principal Secretary, Power and Principal Secretary, New & Renewable Energy Sources.
The order further gives him the responsibility of Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) and he takes over these responsibilities from Basant Garg, IAS, who was handling the Power and New & Renewable Energy Sources portfolios as Administrative Secretary and was also CMD of PSPCL and PSTCL.
Basant Garg has now been posted as Administrative Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Administrative Secretary, Investment Promotion, and Administrative Secretary, Promotion of Information Technology Industry and the new posting relieves Gurkirat Kirpal Singh of these additional charges.
The Punjab government's official administrative records identify Gurkirat Kirpal Singh as a 2001-batch IAS officer and show that he has been handling Social Security, Women & Child Development along with Industries & Commerce, Investment Promotion and Information Technology-related responsibilities.
The reshuffle comes when Punjab's electricity supply is under considerable pressure. The state's peak power demand touched 16,619 MW on September 11, according to reports, while several thermal and hydel generating units were unavailable and the situation has resulted in power restrictions affecting industries, rural areas and other consumers.
Industrial consumers have faced particularly long outages and reports on September 12 said Category 2 and 3 industrial units in several cities, including Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Mohali, faced power cuts extending up to 14 hours. Domestic consumers were also reported to be facing unscheduled outages.
The power department has also recently raised concerns about the deployment of PSPCL and PSTCL technical staff for electoral revision-related duties, saying their absence could affect the utilities' ability to maintain uninterrupted supply during the paddy season and with the latest order, Gurkirat Kirpal Singh will now oversee the department responsible for power policy as well as the top administrative leadership of PSPCL and PSTCL.
The immediate challenge before the new arrangement is managing electricity supply at a time when demand remains high and outages are affecting consumers and industrial operations across Punjab.