Power engineers threaten nationwide strike over privatisation plans in UP and Maharashtra

Hyderabad: In the meeting of the Federal Council of All India Power Engineers Federation held in Lucknow, the federation has appealed to the Government of India and the State Governments to stop the privatisation of the power sector in the larger interest of farmers and poor consumers.

Federation threatens strike against privatisation of electricity

The federation warned that if the privatisation of electricity being done in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra is not cancelled immediately, then all the power engineers of the country, along with the electricity employees, will be forced to take to the streets and protest in support of the power employees and engineers of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The federation has appealed to the consumers to support the movement of electricity workers in their own interest and support the power employees in halting the process of privatisation.

The meeting of the Federal Council was chaired by Shailendra Dubey, Chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation. Secretary General P Ratnakar Rao, Patron K Ashok Rao, PN Singh, Satyapal, Senior Vice Chairman Kartikeya Dubey, Sanjay Thakur and senior office Bearers of the Federal Council attended the meeting.

History has proven the downsides of privatisation

The AIPEF said that the experiment of privatisation in Odisha has failed thrice. The experiment of America’s AES Company failed.

After the complete failure of Reliance Power Company, the Electricity Regulatory Commission cancelled the licenses of all three companies in February 2015. During Covid-19 pandemic, Tata Power was given licenses to distribute electricity in Odisha in June 2020.

Recently, on July 15, taking suo moto cognisance, the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued notices to all four companies of Tata Power for complete failure in consumer service and has ordered a public hearing.

Mega scam behind the plan to privatise

The Federation said that behind the privatisation of electricity in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, there is collusion with corporate houses and is a mega scam.

In UP, the RFP document for privatisation has been prepared in favour of some selected private houses by appointing Grant Thornton as transaction consultant, who had given a false affidavit and a penalty was imposed on this company in the USA.

Valuable govt assets are being sold away for cheap

In open violation of Section 131 of the Electricity Act 2003, the RFP document for privatisation has been prepared without evaluating the assets of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam and Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam and without finding out the revenue potential so that assets worth more than one lakh crore rupees can be sold for a pittance at throwaway prices.

The federation has said that the way privatisation is being done in UP, the zero tolerance policy of the chief minister of the state on corruption is being openly flouted.

Stop the privatisation of the transmission sector

The AIPEF has strongly condemned the privatisation of large industrial and commercial sectors in Maharashtra in the name of parallel licensing and called it privatising the profits. The federation has demanded the cancellation of the decision of the parallel license in Maharashtra.

The AIPEF has demanded withdrawal of the decision to privatise the transmission sector in the name of tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) and asset monetisation. The federation has said that if this is not stopped, the entire transmission sector will be privatised in no time, which will not be in the interest of consumers.

The AIPEF has opposed the formation of joint venture companies in the generation sector of states and said that the cheapest electricity is available from the power plants of the states.

After forming a joint venture company, electricity will become expensive for consumers. The Federation has demanded cancellation of the joint venture of 2×800 MW Obra D and 2×800 MW Anpara E projects in UP and said that these projects be given to the UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam.

Voices of power employees and engineers barring suppressed

Opposing the snatching of Kawai and Jhalawar thermal power plants in Rajasthan from the state sector in the name of a joint venture, the Federation has demanded their immediate cancellation.

The AIPEF has strongly condemned the repression of power employees and engineers in Uttar Pradesh in the name of privatisation and said that privatisation will not be allowed through repression by creating an atmosphere of fear.

The federation said that thousands of power employees were transferred in UP, salaries of power employees were stopped in the name of facial attendance, vigilance investigations were conducted against the top office bearers of the organisations and FIRs were lodged, and very low-paid contractual workers were laid off on a large scale. The federation has demanded the withdrawal of all these repressive actions.