PSEB engineers announce statewide agitation from Nov 26 over ‘political interference’

Engineers will boycott all official WhatsApp groups starting November 26 and hold a state-level protest in Patiala on December 2. The agitation may escalate if the government does not intervene.

The PSEB Engineers Association on Thursday announced a statewide agitation from November 26, accusing the Punjab government of unprecedented political interference, unjustified punitive action against senior officers, and covert attempts to sell key assets in the power sector.

The Association said these actions lacked technical justification and violated the Delegation of Powers and Companies Act provisions.

Engineers will boycott all official WhatsApp groups starting November 26 and hold a state-level protest in Patiala on December 2. The agitation may escalate if the government does not intervene.

The protest call followed a meeting of PSEBEA office-bearers and officers of PSPCL and PSTCL, who opposed the alleged influence of “external consultants with no power-sector experience” on technical and administrative decisions. The Association said decisions taken on “unverified assertions” were destabilising operations and undermining the government’s target of achieving zero outages by March 2026.

Association president Jasvir Dhiman said engineers were forced to protest after repeated complaints to Power minister Sanjeev Arora and senior officials went unanswered. He alleged that upright officers were being intimidated, citing the suspension of GGSSTP Ropar chief engineer Harish Sharma and the removal of director/generation Harjit Singh.

The Association said these actions lacked technical justification and violated the Delegation of Powers and Companies Act provisions. It urged PSPCL Board members to act independently and warned the management would be responsible for any disruption in industrial peace.