Electricity workers across the country will hold protest meetings against privatisation on 13 and 19 December
Press Release of National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE)
National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE)
Press Release, 11 December 2024
Declaration of nationwide movement against any unilateral action of privatization of electricity in Uttar Pradesh
Protest meetings across the country against privatization on 13 December and 19 December
In Lucknow on 22 December and in Chandigarh on 25 December against privatization Massive Bijli Panchayat
In the meeting of the National Working Committee of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) held in Lucknow, it was decided that a nationwide protest would be held against any unilateral action of privatization of electricity in Uttar Pradesh. Protest meetings will be held across the country against privatization on 13th December and 19th December. Huge electricity panchayats will be organized in Lucknow on 22nd December and in Chandigarh on 25th December to protest against privatization.
The meeting of NCCOEEE held in Lucknow was presided over by Subhash Lamba, Vice President of Electricity Employees Federation of India. All India Power Engineers Federation Chairman Shailendra Dubey, Secretary General P Ratnakar Rao, All India Power Diploma Engineers President R K Trivedi, All India Federation of Electricity Employees General Secretary Mohan Sharma were mainly present in the meeting.
NCCOEEE decided that if any unilateral action for privatization of power distribution corporations is started in Uttar Pradesh, then without giving any further notice on the same day, all 27 lakh power employees of the country will be forced to take to the streets and nationwide protests will be held. It was also decided that on the day the action is initiated to hand over the electricity system of Chandigarh to a private company, a similar nationwide action will be taken on the same day.
NCCOEEE also decided that 13 December will be celebrated as Anti-Privatization Day by power employees across the country. On 19 December, on the martyrdom day of the great heroes of Kakori revolution, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaq Ullah Khan and Thakur Roshan Singh, “Save India of Martyrs’ Dreams – Remove Privatization” day will be celebrated and meetings will be held at district and project headquarters across the country.
NCCOEEE decided that a huge Bijli Panchayat will be organized in Lucknow on 22nd December and a huge Bijli Panchayat will be organized in Chandigarh on 25th December in which a large number of farmers and common consumers will participate along with the power employees, who will be informed about the consequences of privatization of electricity on the consumers and employees.
NCCOEEE strongly condemned the unilateral action of privatization by UP Power Corporation in violation of the agreements reached with the Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Committee, UP and demanded from the Chief Minister of the state, Hon’ble Yogi Adityanath to make effective intervention so that atmosphere of industrial unrest unnecessarily created in the energy sector of Uttar Pradesh by Power Corporation can be ended. It is noteworthy that in the written agreement with the then Energy Minister Shri Shrikant Sharma on 05 April 2018 and with the Finance Minister Shri Suresh Khanna and the then Energy Minister Shri Shrikant Sharma on 06 October 2020, it has been said that ”The reform in the existing system of power distribution corporations will be done by taking power employees in confidence. Any kind of privatization in the energy sector in Uttar Pradesh will not be done without taking the employees into confidence,
NCCOEEE said that the draft of the Standard Bidding Document was circulated by the Government of India in September 2020, which has not been finalized yet. Therefore, the basis on which the Power Corporation is privatizing electricity without standard bidding documents should be made public. According to the information received from newspapers, the reserve price of power distribution corporations has been kept very low, around Rs 1000 to 1500 crore. Whereas the assets worth billions and trillions of rupees in power distribution corporations have not been evaluated till date. It is clear that under the guise of privatization, a conspiracy is being hatched to sell power assets worth billions and trillions of rupees at throwaway prices.
NCCOEEE said that if the process of privatization is done in Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh without getting the assets audited and evaluated by CAG, then NCCOEEE will go among the public and take all democratic steps against the looting of assets and legal action will be taken.
NCCOEEE strongly condemned the action of unilateral privatization of power distribution in Rajasthan and sale of Rajasthan Generation Corporation to NTPC and Coal India Limited in the name of joint venture and demanded withdrawal of these actions.
NCCOEEE said If there is any repression in any way in UP, there will be a sharp reaction and 27 lakh electricity workers of the country will be forced to take to the streets.
Shailendra Dubey
Chairman
All India Power Engineers Federation