Engineers vs PSPCL management row escalates: Sit-in protest held inside director’s office

“This has never happened before in the history of PSPCL that we had to stage a dharna inside the office of a director,” Ajaypal Singh Atwal, general secretary, PSEBEA, told The Indian Express.

The notice issued on November 17 accused Kaur of misconduct for proceeding on leave during a crucial phase of tariff petition preparation and an important consultation related to a Supreme Court hearing—even though her earned-leave request had been rejected.

Atwal said that after the dharna, Beri assured that the show-cause notice would be withdrawn. “He said that the whole-time directors (WTDs) would take a call on the matter. This was our demand because only WTDs are empowered to take action against an officer of the rank of chief engineer,” Atwal added.

Third action in a row

According to PSPCL, Kaur took a half-day leave on November 4 on account of Nagar Kirtan and applied for earned leave on the same day, from November 6-21, citing urgent work at home. Her request was denied due to the critical workload.

On November 6, Kaur revised the leave application for the same dates, this time citing medical grounds, but allegedly did not attach any medical documents. She then proceeded on leave without formal approval. Kaur also missed a key meeting with a senior advocate on November 5 ahead of the Supreme Court hearing scheduled for November 6, the notice adds. Kaur was given seven days to respond.

“The issue has now been escalated. This is the third unwarranted action on power engineers within this month, and we will not sit quietly,” Atwal said.

Over 200 power engineers assembled at the PSPCL head office within half an hour of the protest call, taking the management by surprise, sources said.

The show-cause notice came close on the heels of two major disciplinary moves:

• November 2: PSPCL suspended Harish Sharma, Chief Engineer, Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, Ropar, over alleged irregularities in fuel costs. PSPCL claimed that despite sourcing coal from its own Pachhwara mine, government plants were generating power at a cost ₹0.75 to ₹1.25 per unit higher than private plants, causing losses of several crores.
• November 4: PSPCL terminated Harjeet Singh, Director (Generation), citing “serious misconduct” related to mismanagement of fuel costs and financial loss. The order referred to similar discrepancies at multiple plants and invoked clauses in his appointment allowing termination without notice in cases of misconduct.

Rising friction under new CMD

The notice to Harmohan Kaur marks the third major action against senior engineers since Dr Basant Garg took charge as PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) on October 30. He is also the state’s power secretary. Garg could not be reached for a comment.

The engineers’ association has alleged that senior technical officers are being unfairly targeted and that punitive actions lack transparency. District-level protests are underway over the actions against Sharma and Singh.