Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
In the National Convention of all unions and associations of employees and engineers of the power sector held in Nagpur on 23rd February’25, more than 250 of their representatives from across India jointly declared their firm resolve to fight against the privatization of electricity. This Convention was organized at the initiative of the National Co-ordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), an umbrella body uniting the vast majority of power sector workers of India.
Various representatives of power sector unions from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala attended the meeting. Chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation, Shailendra Dubey, Secretary General P Ratnakar Rao, Mohan Sharma and Krushna Bhoyar of All India Federation of Electricity Employees, Prashant Chaudhary and Subhash Lamba of the Electricity Employees Federation of India, and Samar Sinha of All India Power Men’s Federation addressed the meeting. The representatives of Kamgar Ekta Committee, CITU, AITUC, AIUTUC, and SKM also participated in the deliberations.
It is very important to note that this Convention was organized against the backdrop of very aggressive actions of the Central government and various state governments. While addressing a gathering of big Indian and foreign capitalists at the ET Now Global Business Summit in New Delhi on 15 February, the Prime Minister himself announced that “Now we are also promoting the private sector in the power distribution sector, so that there is more efficiency in it.”
Chandigarh power utility has been privatised recently despite valiant and long drawn opposition by electricity workers and citizens. Similar attack of privatization has been unleashed by the Uttar Pradesh government. The Rajasthan government has also started the bidding process to privatise power generation and battery storage. In Telangana, the state government has planned to hand over the electricity distribution service of South Hyderabad circle to the private sector. Across India, many state governments have started taking aggressive steps to install prepaid smart meters as a major step towards privatisation of electricity distribution.
The convention of 23rd February was a fitting response by workers to the moves towards privatisation of the entire power sector. Every speaker declared their organization’s resolve to mobilise public opinion against the privatization drive.
Shri Shailendra Dubey exposed the false propaganda about dues of public sector distribution companies and about their “inefficiencies”. He gave many examples of government largesse to various capitalist groups who were handed over tens of thousands of crores of public assets at throw away prices. He talked about the tremendous efforts being taken by Uttar Pradesh electricity workers, working round the clock for many weeks, to ensure uninterrupted power supply during the Maha Kumbh Mela. He also highlighted various draconian measures being taken by the Uttar Pradesh government against power sector employees and others, despite which workers have been fighting for the last 88 days (see Box 1). He declared that workers are not slaves but the rightful Maliks of national resources, along with all the people. He highlighted the new tactic of the Central government to hold regional meetings with certain state governments and forming a Group of Ministers to carry forth its plan (see Box 2).
Com. Mohan Sharma and many other speakers highlighted efforts by their organizations to mobilise contract and temporary employees as a necessary component of struggle against privatisation. He pointed out that in Maharashtra alone more than 60,000 power sector employees, including tens of thousands of contract workers, will be thrown out as a result of the introduction of prepaid smart meters and privatization of distribution.
Many other speakers highlighted that the main purpose behind prepaid smart meters is to make the power distribution risk free for private companies. They also highlighted the extreme ill effects of privatization of electricity distribution on electricity consumer. They called upon all the working people to vehemently oppose the privatization moves. They urged workers not to succumb to the divisive tactics being used by various governments. Some of them also explained that power sector privatization is part of the plan of the Indian big capitalists, who want to get hold of public sector enterprises and mint huge profits at the expense of the working people.
The representative of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha highlighted the fact that “no to privatization of electricity” was one of the main demands of the Kisan Andolan. He highlighted the fact that various kisan unions are joining hands with power sector workers against privatization.
The representative of Kamgar Ekta Committee congratulated power sector workers and the NCCOEEE for building unity of all power sector workers, from Class 4 workers to engineers. He also congratulated them for forcefully reiterating that the Electricity Power infrastructure has been built by people’s money and the sweat and blood of workers and hence they are the rightful Maliks. Governments are just the custodians of this public property and have no right to sell it off under any pretext. He further explained that it is not this or that political party which rules our country but the capitalist class headed by the biggest capitalists of our country who are the real rulers. Hence all such anti-people policies can be permanently stopped only when working people of our country take political power in their hands, he emphasised.
While the ruling capitalist class tries to divide working people on the basis of religion, caste, language, region etc., we the working people should clarify to the entire society that in reality there is only one divide. On one side is the parasitic capitalist class numbering less than 1% of the population who do not produce anything but just exploit and plunder the labour of others. On the other side are the working people who produce all the wealth of the country. This clear understanding is the key to fight all the false propaganda about privatization, he said. He explained that whenever their cadres have approached working people and told them the truth about the anti-people, anti-national, anti-social nature of privatization, working people have wholeheartedly supported us.
The meeting ended with the unanimous acceptance of the Draft Declaration released by the NCCOEEE. The declaration explains in detail the history and status of the power sector. It also announces an action plan of mass propaganda across the country amongst working people, culminating with a Sectoral Strike call across the country on 26th June 2025.
