Press Note by All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF)
ALL INDIA POWER ENGINEERS FEDERATION
PRESS NOTE
January 11, 2023
Parallel license to Adani Power in Noida and Greater Noida will be strongly opposed
The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has said in a statement issued here today that if there is an attempt to give electricity distribution license to any private company in Noida and Greater Noida or any other place under the jurisdiction of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation, it will be strongly opposed.
All India Power Engineers Federation Chairman Shailendra Dubey said in a statement issued here today that Adani Power’s company Adani Jewar Electrical Company Limited has recently applied to the Electricity Regulatory Commission of Uttar Pradesh for obtaining a parallel license for distribution of electricity in Noida and Greater Noida.
Prior to this, Adani has applied for parallel license in Navi Mumbai and Torrent Power in Pune and Nagpur in Maharashtra, in protest against which there was a strike by Maharashtra’s power employees & engineers. Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held talks with the power workers in the midst of the strike and gave a written assurance that the Maharashtra government would oppose the parallel license in the Regulatory Commission and would not allow privatisation.
He said that according to the Electricity Act 2003, the basic condition for obtaining a parallel license for distribution of electricity is that the private company should have its own substations and network of lines in the area in which it has sought the license. It is notable that the entire network of power distribution in Noida is with the Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam and Adani has no network there.
He further said that in 1993, private company NPCL was given electricity distribution license in Greater Noida, whose term is expiring in August 2023. In such a situation, this network will automatically come to Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam. Therefore, no company can be given license in Greater Noida area also until that company builds its network completely.
Cautioning the general public of UP, Shailendra Dubey said that the private company is seeking license for power supply in heavy industrial and commercial areas by using the network of the Power Corporation, which means that the private company is using the network of the government company without building its own network. By using Govt Discos network Adani Power will snatch away industrial and commercial consumers from the Power Corporation which will have a huge adverse impact on the financial position of the Power Corporation.
Thus, this experiment is neither in the interest of the Power Corporation nor in the interest of agriculture and domestic consumers of the state.
He has demanded from the Uttar Pradesh government that the Uttar Pradesh government, like the Maharashtra government, should strongly oppose the license demanded by Adani Power Company in the Electricity Regulatory Commission, keeping in view the wider interest of the common consumers.
Shailendra Dubey
Chairman
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