‘No JEs at 30% power sub-stations in the city’

LUCKNOW : Despite efforts being made to improve power supply scenario in the city, the shortage of staff is making it hard for the Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration to attend to local faults promptly these days.

Sources claim, there are no junior engineers at 32 out of 120 substations in the city. An official of LESA, on condition of anonymity, said, “Around 30% Lucknow substations don’t have a junior engineer. Around 30 JEs of LESA are holding responsibility of more than one substation. In the absence of proper monitoring the linesmen attend the faults according to their comfort. This could delay the reaction time in case of local faults.”

Avadhesh Kumar Varma, chairman UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad said, “I have drawn the attention of authorities towards the problem of staff shortage at LESA substations a number of times.”

“The linesmen are mostly employed through the contractors who are least bothered about the concerns of a common man. The contractual employees are only available during the night hours. In the absence of strict monitoring, even the small faults are attended only during the morning hours. This means residents have to battle prolong power cuts just because of shortage of junior engineers who could monitor the situation better at the substations, especially during the night hours,” he said.

Sanjay Goel, MD of Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam admitted that there is shortage of junior engineers at the substation level. He said that soon new junior engineers would be posted in the city so that the consumers can get better power supply in the days to come.

RK Trivedi, president of Rajya Viidyut Parishad Junior Engineers Association said, “There is a shortage of JE’s in the UPPCL. The government needs to fill the vacant posts as soon as possible.”

The junior engineers play a vital role in power supply, they are the ones who not only take care of lines but they also play an important role in bill deposition and unearthing the power thefts, said Avadhesh Kumar Varma.

He said, “The UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad will take up the matter with the higher authorities and ensure that all the substations have a JE at the earliest.”