Electricity department employees in Uttar Pradesh threatened that they would boycott work indefinitely from May 29 to protest against the privatisation of two power distribution companies (DISCOMs).
At a rally of the employees union (Vidyut Karamchari Samyukt Sangharsh Samiti) in Lucknow today, it was decided that a public awareness campaign will be run from April 16 to 30. This will be followed by a bike rally on May 1; then will come an eight-day hunger strike.
Some 25,000 employees had gathered in Lucknow to protest today. The planned protests will include handing over memoranda against privatisation to all MPs and MLAs in the state.
The state government’s decision to privatise the distribution of power is in view of the mounting losses faced by these companies. The total loss of the five DISCOMs in the state stands at Rs 1.1 lakh crore - a figure that agitating employees say is manipulated by Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited.
They also say that privatisation has failed in the state. In April 2010, the electricity supply system of Agra was handed over to Torrent Power under a privatisation agreement. As per the agreement, Power Corporation was to supply electricity to the company at the rate of Rs 4.36 per unit. This electricity had been purchased by the power corporation at the rate of Rs 5.55 per unit. In the 14 years since then, the power corporation has thus suffered a loss of Rs 2,434 crores, as per figures put out by the union of the agitating employees.
The work boycott will be graded - starting with employees refusing to work beyond their prescribed hours. This will be followed by a three-hour daily work boycott before the indefinite strike continues.
The employees union has warned of a nationwide protest if the government does not stop its privatisation plans.
