Jaipur: A safety audit ordered by the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) into Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd’s (RVUNL) power plants had flagged serious statutory and operational lapses, but the regulator did not examine the utility’s compliance even after receiving its status report, which admitted that several requirements remained unmet.The lapse assumes greater significance after a June 30 accident at Suratgarh Thermal Power Station, where 25-year-old worker Arjun fell nearly 150 feet while undertaking welding-related work at height.The audit followed RERC’s directions and identified gaps including the absence of separately appointed safety officers and statutory officers responsible for boiler operations. It also recommended measures relating to personal protective equipment (PPE), electrical safety and hydrogen leak detection.In June 2025, RERC directed RVUNL to comply with the recommendations and submit a status report. RVUNL filed the report in Nov 2025 along with its tariff petition. The report showed only partial compliance and disclosed that some statutory requirements identified by the audit had still not been complied with by plant management.The regulatory trail, however, appears to have stopped there. Despite the safety issue being raised during public hearings, RERC’s March 2026 order did not assess RVUNL’s compliance with the audit recommendations. It neither recorded a detailed assessment of the status report nor prescribed fresh directions to ensure that the identified deficiencies were addressed.Stakeholders in the industry said what was the purpose of ordering a safety audit and seeking compliance if the regulator did not subsequently scrutinise the findings or the action taken on them.They expressed concern over the Commission’s complete omission of safety from its order, despite safety having been expressly mentioned in earlier directives, raised in stakeholder submissions and underscored by RVUNL’s poor performance on this account.
