BBMB faces dam repair challenge as tech staff count dips
Around 45 per cent posts of technician are currently vacant in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), posing a challenge to carry out necessary repair work at the dams being operated by it.
According to officials, the problem is likely to aggravate in coming years as a large number of technicians are set to retire.
An official said the situation was also resulting in a wide skill gap as the technical knowledge accumulated by experienced technicians over the years was not getting transferred smoothly to the new staff in the absence of proper supervision.
The BBMB maintains Bhakra and Pong Dams, crucial to meet power, irrigation and drinking needs of northern states like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Currently, 1,486 posts of technician are lying vacant, which is 45 per cent of the sanctioned 3,297 technical posts.
The vacancy count includes 568 posts of foremen, who play a supervisory role in the maintenance and repair of the crucial infrastructure.
They look after the repair of turbines, dam gates, high-voltage electricity lines and other vital infrastructure.
A senior official told The Tribune that the skill gap was clearly visible during a recent incident when a siren went off due to a technical issue at Pandoh Dam in Himachal Pradesh.
He said nobody knew how to fix it, forcing the BBMB authorities to summon a retired foreman, who had worked at the project for about three decades.
“He came and released the pressure from a valve, making the siren fall silent,” the officer said.
Highly placed sources too confirmed the issue of the skill gap, saying those who worked at the vital installations for decades were fast retiring.
“With old workers retiring and new hiring getting delayed, the required technical skills are not getting passed to the next generation,” said another senior BBMB official.
The Chief Engineer of Bhakra Dam, CP Singh, admitted that vital posts of technicians were lying vacant. “We have written to the higher authorities requesting to fill the posts as these are crucial for the maintenance of dams,” he said.
Since Punjab is a major partner state in the BBMB, the maximum vacant positions are from its quota.
A source said 2,550 posts belonging to the Punjab quota, including that of technicians, were yet to be filled by the state. The source said even if the positions were filled immediately, as assured by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann last month, the transfer of the skill set to new technicians would be a Herculean task.
Punjab