Already facing the protest of employees unions over the issue of power privatization in Chandigarh, the UT Administration on Wednesday came under fire from two former MPs at the Administrator’s Advisory Council meeting.

Two former Union Ministers and ex-city MPs including Pawan Kumar Bansal and Harmohan Dhawan opposed the privatization of Chandigarh Electricity Department.

During the Advisory Council meeting held under the chairmanship of Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore at Hotel Mountview here, the former MPs expressed concern over the adverse impact of privatization on employees and pointed out the continuous protests held by employees against the decision.

The workers are worried about their future as well as the retirement benefits like pension, gratuity and GPF while the residents are concerned that the rates of electricity will be increased by the private sector, they said.

Both the leaders opposed the decision requesting the Administrator to look into the matter while the latter assured that the decision will benefit the Department and employees as well.

Notably, six firms — Sterlite Power, ReNew Wing Energy, NESCL (NTPC), Adani Transmission Ltd, Tata Power and Torrent Power — have submitted their bids for the privatisation of the electricity wing of the UT Engineering Department. The Engineering Department had issued the Request for Proposal (RFP) to 20 intended bidders.

Last month, the Supreme Court had put on hold the stay given by the Punjab and Haryana high court for privatisation of the Chandigarh Electricity Department, thus clearing the decks for the Administration to go ahead with the process.

The decision to privatise the Department was taken on May 12 last year after the directions from the Centre. An empowered committee was constituted to oversee and implement the process, and the Administration had assured the Centre that it would be completed by the end of 2020

Of the 2.25 lakh power consumers, 1.75 lakh are residential users in the city.