1.5 mn power sector employees to go on strike on Feb 23 & 24 against privatisation: AIPEF

• NCCOEEE will meet Governor of Punjab on February 1 and handover a memorandum to him against privatisation of Chandigarh UT Power Department
• The AIPEF Chairman said that the main demands of power sector employees and engineers are withdrawal of Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the privatisation policy

New Delhi: About 1.5 million power sector employees and engineers across the country will resort to two-day strike on February 23 and 24 against privatisation policies of the Central government, said All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) Chairman Shailendra Dubey on Monday. An official statement released in this regard said, "National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees & Engineers (NCCOEEE) has decided to resort to two-day nationwide strike, along with the All India Trade Unions, on 23rd and 24th February. NCCOEEE has also decided that core committee leaders of NCCOEEE will meet Governor of Punjab on February 1 and handover a memorandum to him against privatisation of Chandigarh UT Power Department."

The decision was taken at a virtual meeting of the NCCOEEE held on Monday. 

Strike call: What do power sector employees want?

Dubey said that the main demands of power sector employees and engineers are withdrawal of Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and the decision for privatisation of profit-making power departments of Union Territories of Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Puducherry. Dubey said that the power sector employees want the government to integrate all unbundled power utilities, on the lines of KSEB Ltd in Kerala and HPSEB Ltd in Himachal Pradesh, implement old pension scheme for all power employees recruited after unbundling of SEBs, and regularise all outsourced power employees, like the Telangana government has done.

He added that NCCOEEE core committee leaders will reach Chandigarh on February 1 to support UT power sector employees' strike against privatisation. "NCCOEEE leaders will meet the Governor on February 1 and submit a memorandum to him against privatisation of profit-making power department in Chandigarh," said Dubey. 

It is worthwhile to mention that the Chandigarh Power Department has been making profit for the last seven years. Profit for the year 2020-2021 is Rs 257 crore and line losses in Chandigarh are only 09.2 percent. The electricity tariff of Chandigarh is also cheaper as compared to Punjab and Haryana. Dubey said that privatisation of such profit-making utility is not acceptable.

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