New Delhi: The All India Power Engineers' Federation (AIPEF) has said that at least 1,000 power sector personnel have succumbed to COVID-19 and more than 15,000 have tested positive for the virus. "Amid a record surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, around 1,000 employees working in the power sector have died and more than 15,000 employees have tested positive for the virus," AIPEF Spokesperson V K Gupta said in an official statement released on Friday.
Gupta said that in Maharashtra, more than 7,100 power employees are COVID positive and about 210 have died. While, in Uttar Pradesh, more than 4,000 power sector employees are suffering from coronavirus and 140 have succumbed to the infection. The list of casualties includes at least three chief engineers (two from UP and 1 from Haryana), and more than two dozen superintending engineers, including nine from UP, said the statement.
In Haryana, at least 20 employees have died and 900 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. In Punjab, 700 employees are bedridden because of the infection and about 20 people have died, said the AIPEF spokesperson.
The AIPEF has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Power Minister RK Singh, requesting a direction to all states to treat power sector personnel as front-line workers and conduct mass vaccination camps to inoculate them on priority. The power sector federation has also written to the Ministry of Power and asked all state governments to declare a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for every employee who has died or dies of coronavirus.
In the backdrop of a steep surge in COVID-19 infections, the Central government had asked state governments on April 27 to arrange a special vaccination drive to ensure that all power sector personnel, working in both private and public sector — generation, transmission and distribution utilities — are vaccinated. While noting that uninterrupted power supply is essential from the point of view of ensuring seamless public health service delivery and to allow people to avail services online, the Ministry of Power had said, "Therefore, it is imperative that the Power sector personnel, many of whom have to work in close proximity with each other and have public interfaces, remain protected from the infection, so that all three wings of power supply, namely generation, transmission and distribution are able to collectively provide 24×7 uninterrupted power supply." In line with the direction, various power PSUs like NTPC, NHPC and Power Grid have carried out vaccination drives for their employees and their families.
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