Transfer of engineer: 42 days after regulator's rejection, Bihar power firm corrects its wrong

It has taken 42 days since the state power regulator red-flagged a transfer, and a change of guards at the helm, for the Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL) to reverse the movement order of its electrical superintending engineer (ESE), probing the alleged bungling in the purchase of power transformers, from the electrical supply circle Muzaffarpur to the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) Kishanganj, said officials on Monday.

- Ruchir Kumar

PATNA:

The BSPHCL, on June 19, complied with the regulator's directions of May 7, transferring the said ESE back to Muzaffarpur, a week after Manoj Kumar Singh, a 2009 batch IAS officer, took charge as Bihar's energy secretary and chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of the BSPHCL from Pankaj Kumar Pal, a 2002 batch IAS officer.

Pankaj Rajesh, the engineer in question, was part of a probe to check the alleged supply of underrated transformers to the North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (NBPDCL) when he was suddenly moved as ESE of Muzaffarpur to Kishanganj as the chairman of the district CGRF in April, swapping positions with Ajay Kumar Ratnakar, another ESE.

Rajesh was not the only one to be transferred. Niraj Kumar Singh, an assistant electrical engineer (AEE), tasked to escort a transformer for testing at the Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), Bhopal, was also shifted from NBPDCL's Muzaffarpur to the Special Task Force wing in Bhagalpur, under the South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (SBPDCL), raising many eyebrows.