Hundreds of power employees on Tuesday staged a four-hour protest outside Uttar Pradesh energy minister Arvind Kumar Sharma’s residence here on Tuesday. The protesting employees accused the government of harassment and backtracking on its written commitments made in 2022 and 2023 regarding privatisation and disciplinary action.
Led by Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti and Rajya Vidyut Parishad Junior Engineers’ Association, the protest included regular and contractual staff, junior engineers, and engineers.
The protesters gathered at Kalidas Marg around noon, raising slogans demanding rollback of the privatisation move and withdrawal of alleged punitive actions taken against them.
They said the energy minister refused to meet their representatives, despite earlier assurances and written agreements made on December 3, 2022, and March 19, 2023. It triggered resentment among the employees, though the protest remained peaceful and concluded at 4pm.
According to the Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti convenor Shailendra Dubey, none of the promised actions, such as withdrawal of punitive measures from the March 2023 strike, have been taken. Instead, fresh actions, including mass transfers, withholding of salaries under the guise of facial attendance, and state vigilance probes have intensified, he claimed.
The protesters demanded full implementation of the 2022 and 2023 agreements, reinstatement of low-paid terminated contractual staff, cancellation of large-scale transfers perceived as punitive, withdrawal of FIRs and vigilance inquiries against union leaders and cancellation of the privatisation move for Purvanchal and Dakshinanchal power distribution companies.
{{/usCountry}}The protesters demanded full implementation of the 2022 and 2023 agreements, reinstatement of low-paid terminated contractual staff, cancellation of large-scale transfers perceived as punitive, withdrawal of FIRs and vigilance inquiries against union leaders and cancellation of the privatisation move for Purvanchal and Dakshinanchal power distribution companies.
{{/usCountry}}Other senior leaders who took part in the protest were Jitendra Singh Gurjar, Ajay Kumar (president of Junior Engineers’ Association), Mahendra Rai, PK Dixit, Suhail Abid, and Deepak Chakravarti.
Dubey said that similar protests were held simultaneously across multiple districts and power projects, including in Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Bareilly, Ayodhya, Noida, Ghaziabad and others, as part of a pre-declared, state-wide agitation.