Chandigarh, November 25
On the call of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), power sector employees and engineers will hold nationwide demonstrations strike on November 27 in support of Uttar Pradesh power employees, who are opposing the privatisation of the two UP Discoms for the last one year, so that the decision of privatisation is withdrawn.
Gioving furher details, Media Advisor of the All India Power Engineers’ Federation (AIPEF) V.K.Gupta said that the Uttar Pradesh power employees have been struggling for a year against the proposed privatization of two state power distribution companies, Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (PUVVNL) and Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (DVVNL), which cover 42 of the state’s 75 districts. The protest is led by the Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukta Sangharsh Samiti, which is resisting what it views as a move that will harm employees, farmers, and the poor. Over the past year, employees have held continuous demonstrations, rallies, and work boycotts, despite the state government invoking the Uttar Pradesh Essential Services Maintenance Act (UP ESMA) to ban strikes.
Chairman AIPEF Shailendra Dubey added that the umbrella body NCCOEEE has now called for a massive protest on November 27 by lakh power employees opposing the privatisation of the two UP discoms. The power sector employees’ union alleged that the UPPCL and certain senior state government officials are colluding with selected private players. They accused them of attempting to sell Discom assets worth crores of rupees to private companies at throwaway prices. “If the discoms are privatised, farmers and economically weaker sections will be deprived of several benefits”, said Dubey.
The demonstration will have a pan-India footprint in all district headquarters in UP and cities including Patiala, Hisar, Jammu, Srinagar, Dehradun, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Nagpur, Raipur, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Vadodara, Rajkot, Guwahati, Shillong, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Patna and Ranchi.
