Employees protest privatisation of power distribution in UP

Uttar Pradesh power employees on Monday staged demonstrations and meetings all over the state to protest the handing over of power distribution for the next 20 years in the urban areas of Agra and Kanpur to private sector Torrent Power.

On May 18, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) had signed a distribution franchisee agreement with Torrent, which was selected after competitive bidding in February 2009.

The employees under the banner of Power Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) held demonstrations at all the major towns and district headquarters, including Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Allahabad, Varanasi and Bareilly.

The JAC claims that revenue collection was improving at all the places, including Kanpur and Agra.

JAC spokesperson Shailendra Dubey said while the line loss and per unit collection at Kanpur during 2007-08 stood at 48 per cent and Rs 1.96, it improved to 41 per cent and Rs 2.39 respectively.

Similar figures for Agra were 39 per cent and Rs 1.66 to 31 per cent and Rs 1.89 respectively, he informed.

He said if the state government went ahead with its plans to privatise the power distribution despite the improving condition of the revenue and line losses, the power employees would put up stiff opposition.

Torrent has already started the groundwork and is expected to take over power distribution operations soon, UPPCL chairman and managing director Navneet Sehgal had earlier said.

The two cities were selected as the transmission and distribution losses are very high in Agra and Kanpur. The franchisee will not only improve the power situation in these areas, but also improve customer services as per the agreement.

Torrent will buy power from UP at Rs 1.96 per unit and Rs 2.17 for Agra and Kanpur respectively for distribution to urban consumers and later realise the revenue.

Torrent will also invest over Rs 200 crore and Rs 500 crore in Agra and Kanpur respectively.

Meanwhile, similar private distribution system is in the pipeline for seven other cities namely Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Aligarh and Meerut.