By the end of April, the power department of the Chandigarh administration will be transferred to Kolkata-based Eminent Electricity Distribution, a private company, owing to the central government directions following cabinet approval.
Multiple aspects like infrastructure, employees and their transfer, financial benefits and other matters will be part of the privatisation exercise.
“The Centre has sent us documents after its nod to power privatisation. The process will take two-and-a-half to three months. We are hoping to complete the process by the end of April or may be before that. It is a lengthy exercise, which requires a lot of paper work,” a UT official.
Based on the nod of the central government to the company and sending the required documents and papers, the UT will now initiate the process to form a company and a trust. An agreement will also be signed between the UT and the company in the next few days. Moreover, since the power department has 700 regular employees with it, the UT has planned to keep only 70 employees (10%) with it and the remaining will be transferred to the private bidder with financial security and benefits.
The administration will also give all its equity to the company. The equity is comprising the existing materials and infrastructure of the power department. The value has already been calculated by the department.
“The trust will be headed by the finance secretary and comprise officials and employees of the finance department and personnel wing. The trust will decide about all monetary benefits of employees. The benefitsof employees transferred to the compan will remain similar,” a senior UT officer said.