CHANDIGARH: Power sector employees and engineers from all states including Punjab and Haryana will demonstrate their solidarity with Maharashtra employees by holding protest meetings on 4th. January in all state capitals of the country and power utility headquarters demanding immediate intervention from Chief Minister, Maharashtra so that no parallel license is granted to any private company in state power distribution.
Power employees and engineers of Maharashtra are proceeding on 72 hours strike with effect from 4th January opposing the Adani’s entry into Thane-Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Kharghar, Taloja and Uran, the most electricity revenue-generating regions of the entire state, as a parallel licensee, where already MSEDCL is working as a licensee efficiently.
V K Gupta spokesperson for AIPEF said that the Federation apprehends that by maliciously invoking the draconian Section 14 of the Electricity Act 2003, the MERC may grant a parallel license to Adani Group to amass profit from these cherry-picking areas taking advantage of the existing distribution network of the State DISCOM. This will adversely impact 2.8 crore consumers of the state especially below poverty line consumers with consumption within 100 units.
Besides this, now Torrent power has also applied for parallel licenses at Kalyan, Vasai, Pune, Nagpur, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal corporations and also a big Chakan MIDC Near Pune. TATA POWER has also requested the Maharashtra government that three districts Aurangabad, Jalana and Bid be handed over to them as PPP.
It may be mentioned that electricity consumers of Mahavitaran, thousands of employees and engineers of Mahavitaran, trade unions and peoples representatives have expressed strong displeasure and opposed the central government.s privatization policy.
They have been holding mammoth protest rallies in Nagpur, Thane and other cities for the last fifteen days.