Backed by,perhaps,one of the biggest cadre of engineers,and a strength of 22,000 employees,the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) may once again face questions on its capabilities in speedily harnessing the states power potential,this time for two comparatively smaller projects Bhabha Augmentation (4.5 MW) and Ghanvi-II (10 MW). The Bhabha project (120 MW) in Kinnaur district was commissioned in the late eighties and was undoubtedly an engineering marvel of the HPSEB,inaugurated by the late prime minister,Rajiv Gandhi,but the subsequent augmentation scheme seemed to have proved to be more a disgrace for the board. The board is already in a soup over 126 MW Larji hydel project commissioned in 2006 at a cost of Rs 1,300 crores against Rs 168.85 crore in 1987. Sources in the board said the 4.5 MW Bhabha Augmentation project would not even be commissioned this month,against the proposed deadline of March 2001. It could be further delayed by another month or so,though officials claim little work is left. We have tightened up all loose ends and given a deadline to engineers only last week, said S K B S Negi,Director (Finance and Administration),who was transferred from HPSEB as Principal Secretary (Rural Development) on Saturday evening. Originally scheduled for commissioning in 2005,the project was later rescheduled for November 2008 and then October 2010. The cost estimated to be Rs 35.6 crores in 2002 has already exceeded Rs 75 crore. Principal Secretary (Power) Deepak Sanan,who was also holding the charge of the HPSEB chairman till Saturday,has already conveyed his displeasure to the engineers over the delays. I want to see the project starting generation at least by the end of this month. Alternatively,the government will fix the responsibility for delays, he reportedly told top HPSEB engineers last week. As per calculations done by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India a year ago,the cost of the power as result of the delays would increase to Rs 7.91 crore per unit from Rs 2.14 crore. Another project gathering dust is Ghanvi-II (10 MW),which was slated to be commissioned in 2007. Proposed to be completed at a cost of Rs 49.49 crore as per 2004 estimates. The cost of the project has already exceeded Rs 81 crore. For newly posted Chairman-cum-Managing Director R D Dhiman,starting two projects and also speeding up work on other ongoing projects will be a test as it is after a long time the government has posted a full-time HPSEB head.
