Naidu Woos Engineers On The Eve Of Strike

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu yesterday appealed to the power engineers not to go on an indefinite strike from today, promising that all the terms in the tripartite agreement will be fully implemented.

The appeal from the Chief Minister came at the end of a high-level review meeting yesterday where alternative arrangements in case the strike materialised were discussed.

The Chief Minister directed the APTransco and APGenco to make foolproof arrangements so that power supply, especially to the farm sector, was not affected in case the engineers went ahead with the strike.

He also made it clear that while the government would sympathetically consider and try to sort out the genuine problems of the engineers, it would not show any leniency in case they took to agitation. He said large parts of the state were passing through one of the worst droughts and there was need to maintain uninterrupted power supply to the farm sector to save the rabi crop. A strike at this juncture would not be in the interests of the farmers.

 

The 10,000-odd power engineers have threatened to go on strike from today protesting against the privatisation of distribution and demanding a single cadre of power engineers posted in APTransco, APGenco and the distribution companies for a period of five years.