15 lakh power sector employees, engineers on strike: AIPEF

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About 15 lakh power sector employees and engineers across the country went on strike on Wednesday in support of 'Bharat Bandh' call given by 10 central trade unions.

Power sector employees are protesting against the Centre's proposed amendments to the Electricity Act as well as other privatisation policies of the government, which they say are against the interest of the consumers and employees.

They are also demanding implementation of old pension scheme for all employees.

"About 1.5 million power sector employees and engineers, including 25,000 in UP, are on the boycott/strike which is a success," Chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), Shailendra Dubey told PTI.

The strike call was given by National Co-ordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), a united platform of unions and federations of electricity employees and engineers of the country.

Hundreds of employees and engineers held protest meeting at Shakti Bhawan in the state capital and shouted slogans.

Dubey said most of the amendments proposed in the Electricity Act 2003 and National Tariff Policy are against the interests of the common consumers.

Under the new tariff policy, the private company will charge the full cost of power with guaranteed profits from the consumers, thus raising the bills, he alleged.

Under this policy, subsidy and cross-subsidy will be phased out in three years. With the abolition of this cross-subsidy, power will become costly for the consumers.

The proposed amendment to the electricity law seeks to bifurcate the distribution of electricity into carriage (the distribution infrastructure) and content (the sale of electricity to the consumer).

The Amendment Bill is anti-people, as the private sector would compete over larger and more profitable consumers while the smaller and poorer consumers would be left to languish, Dubey said.

He said employees would proceed for an indefinite strike without notice in case the government tried to issue an ordinance for privatisation.

Other demands of power sector employees are integration of all power utilities in states, like KSEB Ltd in Kerala and HPSEB Ltd in HP, implementation of old pension scheme for all employees, regularisation of contractual workers, review of power purchase agreements having exorbitant rates.

The maximum participation of employees and engineers was from Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh , Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnatka, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tripura.

The 10 central trade unions have claimed around 25 crore people will participate in the nationwide strike called to protest against the union government's labour reforms, FDI, disinvestment, corporatisation and privatisation policies.

They are pressing for a 12-point charter of demands of the working class relating to minimum wage and social security, among others.

Members of 10 central trade unions, which include AITUC, INTUC, CITU, AICCTU, CUCC, SEWA, LPF, along with various sectoral independent federations, are participating in the nationwide strike, AITUC General Secretary Amarjeet Kaur said.