The Power Development Department is not just another Government entity – it is the lifeline that keeps homes illuminated, hospitals functional, water supply systems operational, and vital installations secure. Its role permeates every sector of governance, public service, and daily life. Yet it is alarming to note that the very backbone of this department-its engineering cadre-is critically depleted. Out of a sanctioned strength of 2,540 posts from JE to MD level, 874 remain vacant. This is not a mere staffing gap; it is a systemic crisis. The cadre strength itself is based on an outdated manpower audit conducted years ago, when power demand, infrastructure, and technical complexity were far less than today. Since then, the department has undergone structural reforms – split into multiple corporations and wings, handling generation, transmission, projects, and maintenance – each requiring independent technical teams. Compounding the challenge, PDD’s engineers are also deployed in other departments like Roads & Buildings, Jal Shakti, and Health. Yet, despite these realities, there has been no urgency to recruit engineers as vacancies arise. At the top level, both MD posts are vacant, all four Executive Director positions are unfilled, and 28 out of 36 SE posts lie empty. The absence of leadership inevitably slows decision-making, delays project execution, and hampers administrative oversight. Senior officers holding multiple charges are stretched thin, unable to do justice to either post, and critical planning suffers as a result.
The crisis does not end at the senior level. At the base, 437 JE posts are vacant, leaving overburdened juniors scrambling to keep the wheels turning – from routine maintenance to fault repair to ensuring transmission stability. This trickle-down effect is crippling: when senior posts remain vacant, mid-level promotions stall; when mid-level promotions stall, juniors lose motivation, career growth stagnates, and operational efficiency erodes. A particularly glaring concern is the rigid adherence to outdated recruitment rules from 1978 for promotions to SE level – requiring three years as Executive Engineer and 17 years of Gazetted service. With many current Executive Engineers due to retire soon, very few will even be eligible for promotion. This will create a near-total vacuum at the SE level, cascading upwards to the Chief Engineer tier. The Jal Shakti Department faced a similar challenge but resolved it through service relaxation, ensuring leadership continuity. Why can’t PDD follow the same path? Promotion delays have already created glaring disparities. In some cases, reserved category engineers are promoted much earlier to become CEs, while their general category batchmates from engineering college are still struggling to reach the Executive Engineer level. Such inconsistency points to the absence of a standard, transparent promotion policy, making career progression heavily dependent on administrative discretion rather than merit or service record.
Adding to the complexity, certain PDD functions, like smart metering, have been outsourced. While technology adoption is inevitable, it also renders certain positions-such as meter readers-redundant. Moreover, emerging automation tools are reshaping the nature of engineering work. These realities should prompt a fresh manpower restructuring exercise, balancing technological efficiency with core technical competence. But pruning should be systematic, not an excuse to let the department decay through neglect. Revenue collection in PDD remains far below desired levels, partly because understaffed technical teams cannot adequately address billing irregularities, theft detection, and timely maintenance. This directly affects the department’s financial health, creating a vicious cycle – poor revenue hinders investment in manpower, and a lack of manpower worsens service delivery, further reducing public satisfaction and compliance.
The way forward is neither mysterious nor impossible. The Government must immediately fill all vacancies to restore operational stability, update cadre strength based on present and future workload, adopt service relaxations and standardise promotion policies to remove disparities and restore morale. Engage engineers’ unions to devise manpower strategies that are fair, transparent, and sustainable. PDD is not a department where patchwork fixes can suffice; its functioning demands uninterrupted technical expertise at every level. It is time to act decisively, fill the ranks, modernise policies, and give PDD the professional muscle it needs to fulfil its mandate.
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