Vidyut Bhawan to get ‘new faces’ at important positions in Feb!

Jaipur: A new history was created in Vidyut Bhawan on Friday when DoP handed the additional charge of the Chairman of Urja Vikas Nigam to IAS Bhanu Prakash Yeturu. Now Yeturu has to work as the single chairman of five organisations which include three companies of Vidyut Bhawan and two corporations. Whereas in all five organisations, different Managing Directors (MD) have been working. It has happened for the first time that an IAS has been made only Chairman.

According to administrative experts, the post of Chairman in any institution (including Vidyut Bhawan) is decorative and their responsibility is only to chair the board meetings while all the powers and responsibilities lie with the MD. Thus, although Yeturu is Chairman of five institutions/organisations, but for all practical purposes, he is ‘toothless’. The Chairman at Vidyut Bhawan, till recently, has either been an MD or the chief of the Energy Department and that is why they have been able to ‘rule the roost’.

Till now, Bhaskar Sawant was holding the post of Principal Secretary of Energy Department as well as Chairman of all three Discoms and Urja Vikas Nigam. Whereas Ashutosh A. T. Pednekar, CMD - RVPNL, was holding the post of Chairman, of Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RREC). But after the transfer of Bhaskar and Ashutosh, now Yeturu alone has all five responsibilities. This arrangement had happened for the first time the Electricity department and administrative experts have termed this a new experiment.

Although Alok Gupta has been replaced by Bhaskar Sawant, he has not been given the responsibility of Chairman of Discoms and Urja Vikas Nigam which were with Bhaskar. Rather Alok has been handed the additional charge of CMD of RVPNL on temporary basis and this arrangement too has happened for the first time. Notably, the tenure of MDs of all three Discoms will end on February 23 and as of now, RN Kumawat in Jaipur, Pramod Tak in Jodhpur, and SS Nirvan in Ajmer are working as MD. Whereas in Urja Vikas Nigam, the tenure of MM Ranwa as its MD is also about to come to a completion. A new posting will be done on these four important assignments. Interestingly, the CMD of Utpadan Nigam - Rakesh Sharma - is serving an extension of tenure.

Thus, it is certain that new faces will be seen on all these chairs in the Vidyut Bhawan next month.