Press Release of All India Forum Against Privatisation (AIFAP)
All India Forum Against Privatisation (AIFAP)
All-India Conference on Privatisation in Electricity and Other Sectors
15 April 2025, New Delhi
Press Release
The All India Forum Against Privatisation (AIFAP) organized the ‘All-India Conference on Privatization in Electricity and Other Sectors’ on 15 April 2025 in New Delhi. Nearly 120 delegates from 29 organizations of electricity, railways, bank, insurance, telecom, coal, road transport, education, health, and other sectors, and organisations of people and consumers took part in the day-long deliberations.
The Conference was conducted by Dr. A. Mathew, Convenor of All India Forum Against Privatisation (AIFAP) and Secretary of Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) with the assistance of Shri Girish, Joint Secretary, Kamgar Ekta Committee.
The Conference was addressed by Shri Shailendra Dubey, Chairman, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), Com. Mohan Sharma, General Secretary, All India Federation of Electricity Employees (AIFEE), Shri Ashok Singh, President, Indian National Electricity Workers Federation (INWEF) and Senior Vice President of INTUC, Shri Ramesh Parashar, All India Powermen’s Federation (AIPF) and Shri B K Dixit of Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, UP from electricity sector.
The speakers from railways included Dr. Hemant Soni, General Secretary, Indian Railway Ticket Checking Staff Organization (IRTCSO), Shri Purshottam Gothwal, General Secretary, All India Pointsmen’s Association (AIPMA), Shri Ram Kumar Verma, Divisional Secretary, Lucknow, Northern Railway, Indian Railways Signal and Telecom Maintainer’s Union (IRSTMU), Shri Chanda Charan Salma, Zonal Treasurer, East Coast Railway, All India Guards Council (AIGC).
The speakers from other sectors were Ms. Geeta Shant, CWC Member, All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), Shri Girish, Joint Secretary, Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC), Shri Sanjay Gaba, National Vice Chairman, Kamgar Karmachari Congress (KKC), Shri Santosh Kumar, Mazdoor Ekta Committee (MEC), Dr. Manjit Singh Patel, General Secretary, All India New Pension Scheme Employees Federation (AINPSEF), Ms. Sheena, Purogami Mahila Sangathan (PMS), Shri Thomas Franco, Ex-General Secretary, All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), Com. Vidya Sagar Giri, National Vice President, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Shri G L Jogi, General Secretary, Sanchar Nigam Pensioners Welfare Association (SNPWA), Shri V K Tomar, Chairman, National Confederation of Officers Association (NCOA), Shri K Ashok Rao, Patron, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) and Prof. Dinesh Abrol, Public Commission on Public Sector and Public Services (PCPSPS).
The following resolutions were adopted unanimously:
This Conference:
a) Calls upon all the working people of India, to refuse to accept the anti-worker, anti-people and anti-social policy of privatisation. All the working people of India are the producers of all the wealth of our society and hence they are the real Maliks. Each one of them should be able to enjoy the benefits of this wealth created by all of them together. No private enterprise should be allowed to earn profit out of them.
b) Resolves to strengthen our unity with all the members of the working class, with other toilers and with people at large, surmounting all barriers, to oppose privatization in any sector.
c) Believes that electricity is a basic necessity in today’s life. It is the government’s duty to ensure that it is available continuously to everyone in the country at an affordable rate. Turning electricity into a commodity for profiteering is not acceptable.
d) Extends full support to the ongoing struggles of electricity employees of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra and other states against privatisation.
e) Condemns the Uttar Pradesh State Government’s attempts to crush the democratic right of workers to strike.
f) Extend full support to the proposed All India strike of electricity employees on 26 June 2025 to oppose various attempts of privatization by the Central and state governments.
g) Calls upon all the workers, peasants and other electricity consumers all over the country to join the struggles of electricity workers against anti-worker, anti- peasant and anti-people privatization.
The Conference raised the following demands:
- The governments at the center and states must immediately put a halt to anti- worker, anti-people, anti-social privatization drive.
- The governments at the Center and states must immediately take all the necessary steps to strengthen the PSEs and government departments, by immediately filling up vacancies by permanent employees, immediately making all contract workers permanent, and make the necessary investments to urgently boost the infrastructure etc. so that they can deliver excellent quality products/services to all the people of India.
- The governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra and other states must immediately stop all their plans to privatize electricity distribution, generation or transmission through any means.
- The Union government must immediately halt all its attempts at privatization of electricity and stop incentivising state governments for carrying out privatisation in the name of ‘reforms’.
- The Central and state governments must make necessary capital available to upgrade distribution infrastructure to improve the quality of supply, reduce losses and bring down power rates.