Power engineers’ body slams arrest of PSPCL ex-chief

Patiala: The Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers' Association has condemned the arrest of former Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) chairman-cum-managing director KD Chaudhary and retired chief engineer Sanjeev Prabhakar by the Punjab vigilance bureau (VB) in a case linked to the installation of a 66KV power substation at Basant Avenue and Basant City in Ludhiana.In Patiala, the association termed the arrests as "arbitrary, motivated, and a targeted attack", and wrote to chief minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking an independent judicial inquiry by a sitting or retired high court judge.In a joint statement, association president Jatinder Garg and general secretary Ajay Pal Singh Atwal said the body had a 60-year history of never supporting corrupt practices, but it could not remain a silent spectator when senior technocrats were selectively targeted. They described the case as a "vague FIR to divert public attention".The association questioned the need for custodial interrogation of a senior citizen, who remitted office nearly nine years ago, particularly when all relevant records were already with the investigators. It also said the vigilance department had received the complaint five years ago, but did not file a chargesheet, which it said indicated a lack of sincerity.The association ad"ed that the "vague and open-ended FIR" had triggered resentment, fear and uncertainty among serving power sector officers and would severely hamper independent decision-making and utility operations.An emergency meeting of the association's executive committee was convened to deliberate on the matter. The leadership also sought an immediate audience with the chief minister to present the factual background and repercussions on the state's power sector infrastructure. Copies of the memorandum were forwarded to state power minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh, the chief secretary and the secretary (power).According to the Punjab VB economic offences wing sources, the case related to the installation of the substation in 2014–15. The bureau alleged Chaudhary, who retired in 2017, Sanjeev Prabhakar, then SDO and XEN, and a private builder colluded to misuse Rs 10 crore of govt funds to set up the infrastructure.Under standard PSPCL guidelines, the multi-crore cost of the substation should have been borne entirely by the builder. The bureau alleged the officials deliberately failed to calculate the combined electrical load of interconnected colonies, shifting the financial burden to the state exchequer to give undue benefit to the private builder.A case under sections 409 and 420 of the IPC, along with relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, was registered against the accused after an initial inquiry initiated in May 2021. A Ludhiana court remanded all three to police custody for further interrogation.