Prasad bids adieu, stopgap CMD for NPCIL appointed

Prasad bids adieu, stopgap CMD for NPCIL appointed
D N MOORTY

MUMBAI, APRIL 30: It was a sombre function at the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) when Dr Y S R Prasad handed over the baton to the new stop-gap chairman and managing director Ch Surendar, currently executive director (operations), this morning.

The appointment expectedly raised eyebrows, since Surendar is slated to retire in July as he completes his extension and also completes 62 years. (Prasad, incidentally, retired after the end of his second extension, having reached the age of 62.) This would make Surendar the CMD of the Nuclear Power Corporation for just 3 months. Indications are that he will not be granted any extension since it is a matter of unstated policy that no extensions are given beyond the age of 62 -- unless the Centre decides to make an exception in his case.

Sources pointed out that a search committee was instituted to find a successor to Y S R Prasad. According to these sources, the committee ended its deliberations a month ago and all the prospective candidates had been interviewed. The recommendations are already with the Centre. When contacted on Sunday afternoon, Dr R Chidambaram, secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, who also headed the search committee, declined all comment except to confirm that Surendar was appointed as acting CMD of NPC.

Shortlisted to succeed Prasad were three candidates: V K Chaturvedi, executive director of Kudankulam project and project director of RAPS 3 and 4; A Sanat Kumar, executive director, projects and V K Sharma, project director of Kaiga 1 & 2. Surprisingly, though S Krishnan, director, strategic planning and management services was also a likely contender, his name is not being bandied about as one to succeed Prasad. Of the four, V K Sharma, belonging to the seventh batch of the Training School, has less than one year to retire at the age of 60, Sanat Kumar of the sixth batch has just a couple of months more than Sharma. It is V K Chaturvedi of the ninth batch who has the longest term in balance and is scheduled to retire only in January 2003. Moreover, both Sanat Kumar and Chaturvedi received their last promotions on the same day, while Krishnan and Sharma were granted their promotions a year later. On balance, Chaturvedi, being the youngest, was expected to replace Prasad.

Surendar acknowledged that as a stopgap leader he would be largely involved in continuing the work under way on various projects. ``Kaiga 2 is scheduled to go critical in September and as things stand, RAPS 4 will also join the grid by the end of the year. As executive director of operations I have been looking after the plants, I will continue to do so till the permanent replacement is appointed,'' he said.

Prasad, on the other hand, when questioned why a permanent CMD was not appointed despite the recommendations of the search committee, preferred to be non-committal. ``It is for the Cabinet to decide taking the long-term perspective,'' he said and added, ``Normally, the recommendation of the secretary, DAE is accepted by the government.'' Prasad declined to specify the likely successor, but said: ``There has been a remarkable change in the NPC during the last few years, and whoever replaces me will continue to bring about more professionalism in the functioning of the NPC. All the contenders are good men.''