Press release of Vidyut Karamchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, UP
(Translation of Hindi Press Release)
Vidyut Karamchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, UP
Press release 14 December, 2024
In the huge “Bijli Panchayat” held in Varanasi in protest against privatization, a proposal to withdraw the decision of privatization was sent to the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister
“Bijli Panchayat” will be held in Agra on 17 December
In the huge Bijli Panchayat held in Varanasi, a proposal to withdraw the decision of privatization of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam was passed and sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, MP of Varanasi and Chief Minister of the State Yogi Adityanath ji. Thousands of electricity workers and common consumers participated in the Bijli Panchayat. Vidyut Karamchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, UP announced that on the coming 17th December, Bijli Panchayat of employees, farmers and domestic consumers will be organized in Agra.
In the Bijli Panchayat of Varanasi, the officials of the Sangharsh Samiti said that even four years ago in the year 2020, a decision was taken to privatize Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam. After talks with the Sangharsh Samiti, in the written agreement made on 06 October 2020 with the Finance Minister of UP, Shri Suresh Khanna and the then Energy Minister, Shri Shrikant Sharma, it is clearly stated that the decision to privatize Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam is withdrawn. It is also written in the agreement that no privatization of any kind will be done anywhere in the energy corporations of UP without taking the employees into confidence. The Sangharsh Samiti said that now this unilateral decision of privatization is a blatant violation of the written agreement made on such a large scale, which is extremely unfortunate.
The Sangharsh Samiti said that privatization is a big conspiracy. This conspiracy will be exposed as soon as the RFP document is issued. Everyone understands in whose interest it is to hand over the land of the entire 21 districts to private houses for just one rupee. The Sangharsh Samiti said that what is the meaning of privatizing the assets of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam worth billions of rupees on the basis of a reserve price of only Rs 1500 crore without getting it audited by the CAG? Sangharsh Samiti alleged that the assets of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam and Dakshinchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam worth billions of rupees are being sold to private companies for a pittance, which neither the employees nor the common consumers will accept.
Sangharsh Samiti said that the biggest blow from privatization will be to the consumers. Tata Power and Adani Power operate in Mumbai. The electricity rates for domestic consumers in Mumbai are Rs 17-18 per unit. The maximum electricity rate for domestic consumers in UP is Rs 06.50 per unit. It is clear that as soon as privatization happens, the electricity rate for farmers and domestic consumers in UP will immediately increase to Rs 10 per unit or more.
The Bijli Panchayat of Varanasi unanimously rejected the privatization of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam and demanded from the government that the proposal of privatization should be withdrawn immediately in the interest of consumers and employees so that there is no unnecessary industrial unrest in the energy corporations.
After the Bijli Panchayat, consumers and employees peacefully marched on foot to the headquarters of Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam. No management official was available at the headquarters to take the memorandum. Therefore, on the instructions of the Sangharsh Samiti, everyone went back peacefully.
Shailendra Dubey
Convener