Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
Various unions of the Electricity Department of Puducherry, representing 1500 engineers and workers, had approached Madras High Court with a petition to cancel the tender, inviting bids for privatisation of the Department.
While the court order (enclosed) has not cancelled the tender, it has asked the government of Puducherry not to open the tender until further court orders.
The Puducherry government is going ahead with the privatisation despite the strong opposition of workers and consumers on the instruction of the central government which wants to privatise electricity distribution in all the union territories.
The Puducherry electricity department is a profit-making service with very low distribution losses. The unions have pointed out that the electricity distribution in Puducherry is carried out by a government department and not a company whose shares can be sold. Further, all the employees are covered by the Central Civil Service (CCS) and the decision to privatise the department violates the service rules.
