By Shri Shailendra Dubey, Chairman, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF)
During the COVID period, on May 13, 2020, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman suddenly announced that the privatization of electricity distribution in all Union Territories would be ensured by December 31, 2020. Along with this, the privatization process began in the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and indirectly, a decision for privatization was also taken in Jammu and Kashmir.
We know the story of Chandigarh. How bravely the electricity workers of Chandigarh fought, yet privatization was ultimately imposed on them. In Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, there were very few employees. Privatization was carried out there as well.
The privatization process in Puducherry started alongside Chandigarh. I, along with Comrade Prashant Chaudhary, the then convener of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers, arrived in Puducherry directly from Chandigarh at midnight on February 02.
Er T. Jayanthi, leader of Power engineers from Tamil Nadu, joined me from Chennai itself. The next day, we addressed meetings of Power employees throughout the day. Mainly with me were P.N. Chaudhary and T. Jayanthi. Along with them were Puducherry electricity workers’ leaders Thanigavelu and Murugan & Kannan. T. Jayanthi did an excellent job of translating the English speeches of P N Chaudhary and myself into Tamil and presenting them effectively to the power employees. Senthil Kumar, Arunachalam & Anand Kumar from Tamil Nadu were also present.
At night, heavy police force was deployed to arrest the power employees’ leaders. The police wanted to end the movement by arresting the power employees’ leaders.
In such a situation, I narrated the story of Lucknow on September 28, 2020, to the employees leaders. It filled them with enthusiasm to offer mass arrests. Just as in Lucknow, upon my arrest, 10,000 workers across the state volunteered to arrest, and ultimately the government had to withdraw its decision to privatize the Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam.
Jayanthi excellently explained all this in Tamil to the Puducherry electricity workers. Finally, on my and P N Chaudhary’s call, the power employees prepared for mass jail bharo, and at 12 midnight, more than 300 electricity workers, holding pictures of Bhagat Singh, volunteered to mass arrests. Along with this, we explained our position against privatization to leaders of other parties as well. The next morning, All India Power Engineers Federation Secretary General P Rathnakar Rao, Prathap Reddy, Nagaprasad , K V Ramarao from Andhra Pradesh, and other power engineers also arrived.
Significantly large number of women employees participated in historic Puducherry Struggle. Jay Durga Shakti.
As a result, the very next day, the then Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy called us for talks. Several rounds of talks took place. Many rounds went on late into the night. Ultimately, we succeeded in convincing Chief Minister N Rangaswamy ji, and the privatization of the Puducherry Electricity Department was stopped.
From time to time, discussions about privatization continued, but privatization remained halted. In August 2025, a major development occurred when Adani Power registered the Adani Power Puducherry Company. This was a clear signal that the privatization process would accelerate, and Adani Power was leading the race.
That’s exactly what happened—a fresh tender for privatization was issued again. The last date for submitting the tender was January 05, 2026, and the tender was to be opened on January 06, 2026.
But that did not happen. On the last date for tender submission, the privatization tender was finally cancelled in the name of administrative reasons.
Keep in mind that Puducherry is a Union Territory. Cancelling the privatization tender in Puducherry without the Centre’s permission is not possible. This point should always be kept in mind.
The story of Puducherry is a tale of struggle and victory. It is the story of fighting a lamp with storm, in which the lamp remains lit, and the storm fades away.
The story of Puducherry once again proves that “those who fight never lose,” “the one who doesn’t fight is the one who loses.”
Inquilab Zindabad!
