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Chandigarh power employees will not work under private firm: EEFI
The meeting was chaired by EEFI national vice-president Subhash Lamba and All Haryana Power Corporations Workers Union state president Suresh Rathi
Vice-president of the Electricity Employees Federation of India (EEFI), Subhash Lamba on Sunday said employees of the Chandigarh power department would not work under a private company.
Resolute against the privatisation of Chandigarh’s power sector, electricity employees are continuing to hold daily protests.
On Sunday, an online meeting of the north zone of EEFI was organised to discuss the movement of general public and employees against privatisation. The meeting was chaired by EEFI national vice-president Subhash Lamba and All Haryana Power Corporations Workers Union state president Suresh Rathi.
Lamba said it was unfortunate that despite strong opposition from the public and employees, the administration was handing over the assets to a private company from January 1. He stated that the electricity employees of Chandigarh would not work under the private company.
“Since the employees have been working in a government department and the service rules of the central government apply to them, they cannot be forced to work under any private company,” he said.
Representatives from the states of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir, who attended the meeting, gave a clear warning that if the administration took unilateral action and forcibly handed over the department to private hands on January 1, the electricity employees of the four states will be forced to protest and go on strike.
The entire responsibility for this would lie with the UT administration, they said, adding that they would try to ensure that no employee from their states undertook duty in Chandigarh. “If the management used force, then the employees would give a befitting reply,” they said.
The decision of the Uttar Pradesh government to hand over Purvanchal and Dakshinchal Discom to private hands was also strongly condemned in the meeting.
A strategy was also prepared to ensure the success of the protests organised on December 19 against the privatisation of the UP Discom and Chandigarh electricity department.
Lamba shared that the panchayat to be held in Lucknow on December 22 was supported in the meeting, and a decision was taken to participate in the joint mahapanchayat of the general public and employees to be held in Chandigarh on December 25.
