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Power engineers, employees to protest on Oct 5 against move to privatise Varanasi discom sector

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New Delhi: The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Monday said power engineers and employees will hold protest meetings on October 5, to lodge their protest against privatisation of the Varanasi discom sector. “Power sector engineers and employees will observe countrywide protest meetings on October 5 in support of Uttar Pradesh power employees who are protesting the privatisation of Varanasi discom sector,” V K Gupta, spokesperson of AIPEF, said in the statement.

This decision was taken in the virtual meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEEE) held on Sunday. The meeting was chaired by Shalinder Dubey Chairman AIPEF.

The Uttar Pradesh government is processing the privatisation of Varanasi discom and the state’s power employees and engineers, who are already protesting the privatisation will start a three-hour work boycott from September 29 and full-day work boycott on October 5, it said.

The NCCOEEE decided to give a nationwide agitation plan if any power employees are arrested.

In its letter to Union Power Minister R K Singh, AIPEF has demanded that the time-frame of 14 days to offer the comments on the standard bid documents (SBDs) is too short and should be extended to March 31.

Gupta said the central government approach on SBDs is as if electricity was a central subject and not a concurrent subject.

Before taking up the standard bid document draft, it was constitutionally necessary for the government to first discuss with states on the feasibility of privatising distribution.

Clearly, the states have been bypassed by straight away taking up standard bid documents without considering the basic issue whether privatisation is acceptable or feasible, it added.

There are several issues contained in SBDs that are contradictory and anomalous, which need to be clarified first by the government before the comments can be given by AIPEF, it said.

The cart must not be put before the horse and that before discussing SBDs, the basic issue of privatisation and consulting of states must be addressed, it said.

Already the serious issues of direct benefits transfer have not been resolved and now the government is adding another dimension of privatisation, it added.

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