Amid tussle with power minister, dept secretary given marching orders

Sinha’s transfer comes two months after Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora was handed over the department of power. Sources said that the minister and Sinha “were not on the same page” and were having some issues over taking decisions on transfers, issuing of tenders and also on selling of power department’s land under the optimum use of vacant government lands (OUVGL) policy. It is learnt that Sinha was resisting several decisions of the minister.

“There were issues regarding the transfers and decisions on tenders. Since both PSPCL and PSTCL are corporations and autonomous bodies, the minister does not have any powers to take important decisions. The decisions are taken by the Board of Directors of both the corporations. Sinha, as CMD was coming in the way of several decisions taken by the minister,” a source said.

He added that in the previous Congress government, Navjot Singh Sidhu had alleged that the minister of the power department had now powers. He was handed over the department of power by the then Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, but had refused to take charge stating that the post of power minister was “powerless” and the minister could not take any decisions.

Arora is considered a powerful minister in the Cabinet of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He is considered close to top Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership. The corridors of Punjab’s civil secretariat have been abuzz with the reports of the friction between the minister and the officer.

A source said, “The PSPCL has a budget of roughly Rs 45,000 crore. It floats tenders for purchase of power and coal every year. The agenda of board of directors meeting is kept a top secret as if anything is leaked to the private companies, it could mean a loss to PSPCL. The board of directors is supreme in the corporation,” said the source.

It is also learnt that the associations and unions of power engineers and employees have been opposing strongly the bid of the government to liquidate landed properties of the corporation. The government has been trying to sell these properties to generate revenue. It has been eyeing PSPCL land in Ludhiana worth crores and Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant in Bathinda.

Sinha had been handling the charge of CMD of Powercom ever since Baldev Singh Saran retired on February 6, 2025.

Meanwhile, Arshdeep Thind will be the new Secretary of the Agriculture Department. He replaces Basant Garg. He will also hold additional charge of the Horticulture Department. Sanyam Aggarwal, currently the Special Secretary of the Health Department, has been given additional charge of the anti-drug campaign in place of Basant Garg.