ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has voiced serious reservations over the proposal of transfer and postings of engineers in state-owned power distribution companies
The Ministry of Energy (Power Division) had put forth a proposal before the Senate Standing Committee on Power it was contemplating to reshuffle executive engineers (Xen) and sub-divisional officers (SDOs) to end their sway in the political mechanism, reported Express Tribune.
Also, the parliamentary panel had stopped the authorities from the installation of transformers across Pakistan till the elections on July 25th.
The parliamentary came up with the recommendations after it was noticed politicians in some constituencies were roaming around with transformers in their vehicles whilst others had kept them in their guest houses to attract voters by offering them power connections.
PEC Chairman Jawed Salim Qureshi in a letter sent to the Power Division and Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) voiced reservations over the recommendation of major transfers and postings of state-owned power companies.
Mr Qureshi replied to the recommendation of transferring all engineers out of the districts where they were presently engaged and indicated several problems and risk of unrest.
In his letter, Mr Qureshi said this could impact the supply of services to the community and consumers. He added, earlier this year a major overhaul and reshuffle of engineers had been carried out after a new transfer and posting policy was outed by Pepco.
The PEC Chairman said since the transfer policy was under the process of execution, the recommendation of major transfers of engineers wasn’t needed considering the system was not carrying peak demand and most engineers had appointments of less than one year.
Mr Qureshi highlighted since engineers were technically adept and had awareness about the transmission and distribution system in their respective territory over a period of time.
He highlighted since summer was the time of peak load on the system, the fresh reshuffling could power breakdowns because of new engineers being unaware with ongoing activities
