Power Engineers' Body Calls For Nationwide Strike On July 9 Against Uttar Pradesh Discoms Privatisation

Around 27 lakh power sector employees will go on a day-long nationwide strike on July 9 against the government's move to privatise two discoms in Uttar Pradesh, engineers' body All India Power Engineers' Federation said on Wednesday.

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to privatise Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. (PVVNL) and Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. (DVVNL), which cover 42 of 75 districts of the state, Shailendra Dubey, Chairman of All India Power Engineers' Federation or AIPEF, said.

"On the call of umbrella body National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers, the power employees, junior engineers and engineers across the country have held massive demonstrations in protest against the privatization of the discoms," he said.

It has been decided to hold massive protest on July 9 by 27 lakh power employees against the privatisation of two UP discoms, Dubey said adding that the strike on such a large scale may also affect the power supply in the country. "We will not be responsible if power supply is affected," he said.

Dubey alleged that Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd., and some big officials of the government are in collusion with selected private houses. They want to sell discom assets worth lakhs of crores to private houses at throwaway prices.

Farmers and poor people will be deprived of several benefits if the discoms are privatised, he said.

Demonstrations will be held mainly in Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Nagpur, Raipur, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Vadodara, Rajkot, Guwahati, Shillong, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Ranchi, Srinagar, Jammu, Shimla, Dehradun, Patiala, Jaipur, Kota, Hisar, and Lucknow.