CHANDIGARH: Power engineers of Uttar Pradesh rejected the option of privatization given by the UPPCL (Power Corporation) in the "Brain storming session " organized in Agra under the supervision of The Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti.
Shailendra Dubey, Chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation, rejected the alternatives given by the Chairman of Power Corporation after the privatization of Purvanchal and Dakshinanchal electricity distribution companies. He analyzed three points of the option to join private company jobs, return to other corporations and take voluntary service retirement, analyzing that all three options would ruin the future of electricians so privatization is not acceptable under any circumstances.
Prashant Chaturvedi, Chairman of Eastern India Power Engineers Federation explained in detail about the struggle against the franchisation of Ranchi and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and said that privatization of the power sector is extremely dangerous and all the engineers are to prepare themselves for the conflict with full force.
V K Gupta media advisor AIPEF said that in one voice all the power engineers pledged that the 312 days old movement will be intensified further against privatization. The struggle against privatization will continue until the decision of privatization is withdrawn by the Government.
Jitendra Singh Gurjar, General Secretary said the main objective of the Brain storming session is to train engineers for crucial struggles against privatization. He said five such camps are being organized at the Discoms level. He said it is not difficult to stop privatisation in the power sector and a decisive struggle would be made against privatization.
Meanwhile the Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti has claimed that the implementation of the vertical power system will result in the reduction of over 3, 000 regular positions and the dismissal of thousands of contract workers in four cities, including Lucknow. The committee alleges that this system, at the suggestion of the All India Discom Association, was introduced solely to promote privatization
According to the committee, the UPPCL management, frustrated by the ongoing protests against the privatization of power companies for more than 10 months, is now restructuring the power system in several cities and handing it over to urban distribution franchisees. Under this proposal, the Board of Directors has approved the vertical restructuring of the power distribution system in KESCO, Aligarh, Meerut, Bareilly, LESA, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Noida, and Saharanpur.