CHANDIGARH: 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, said V K Gupta Spokesperson of All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF).
This decision was taken in the online meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEEE) held on Sunday, September 27.
The meeting was chaired by Shalinder Dubey Chairman AIPEF. The meeting was addressed by Prasanta N Chowdhury convenor, KO Habeeb President Electricity Employees Federation of India, Mohan Sharma president All India Federation of Electricity Employees and Padamjit Singh, Shalinder Dubey, Ashok Rao, Rathnakar Rao from All India Power Engineers Federation, Samar Sinha of AIUTUC and AIPF , R K trivedi of Diploma engineers and Subhash Lamba from Haryana, and others.
In Uttar Pradesh the state government is processing the privatization of Varanasi Discom and UP power employees and engineers who are already protesting the privatization will start 3 hour work boycott from September 29 and full day work boycott on October 5. NCCOEEE decided to give a nationwide agitation plan if any power employees are arrested
Meanwhile AIPEF in its letter to union power minister has demanded that the time frame of 14 days to offer the comments on the Standard Bid Documents is too short and should be extended to March 31.
V K Gupta said that the government of India approach on standard bid documents is as if electricity were a central subject and not a concurrent subject.
Before taking up the standard bid document draft it was constitutionally necessary for GOI to first discuss with states on the feasibility of privatizing Distribution. Clearly the States have been bypassed by straight away taking up standard bid documents without considering the basic issue whether privatization is acceptable or feasible.
There are several issues contained in Standard Bid Documents which are contradictory and anomalous which need to be clarified first by GOI before the Comments can be given by AIPEF.The cart must not be put before the horse and that before discussing SBDs the basic issue of privatization and consulting of States must be addressed.
Already the serious issues of direct benefit transfer (DBT) have not been resolved and now GOI is adding another dimension of privatization.