E-Paper
Power engineers begin non-cooperation against UPPCL management
The power engineers alleged large-scale corruption in power purchase and the execution of enterprise resource planning system and warned the UPPCL management/government of serious consequences if any attempt was made to suppress the peaceful agitation forcefully.
HT Correspondent
lkoreportersdesk@hindustantimes.com
Lucknow: Power engineers in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday started a non-cooperation agitation against the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) management, alleging corruption at higher level and harassment of personnel, even as the management asked them to ensure smooth power supply on Holi and warned that action against the corrupt among them would continue unabated.
Alleging corruption in implementation of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and purchase of electricity at a higher price during the coal crisis, engineers and junior engineers also held a protest meeting in the state capital in the evening after beginning the non-cooperation against the management on Monday morning. The management has given a point-wise rebuttal to all the allegations.
“On the one hand, there has been large-scale corruption in power purchase and the execution of ERP system, on the other hand the management is trying to create an atmosphere of fear by penalizing innocent engineers,” UP Rajya Vidyut Abhiyanta Sangh general secretary Prabhat Singh said.
He warned the management/government of serious consequences if any attempt was made to suppress the peaceful agitation forcefully. He also claimed the UPPCL management’s rebuttal to charges was not based on facts.
“We also appeal to the chief minister to order a CBI probe into the high-level corruption and punish the guilty,” Singh added.
A UPPCL spokesman termed the Abhiyanta Sangh’s charges as ‘untrue, misleading, and against the interest of the department’.
“The management has taken action against several engineers after charges of corruption were established against them, while action is proposed against some others. This has rattled them and their leaders and the agitation is a ploy the build pressure on the management to not take action against the corrupt,” he said.
UPPCL chairman M Devraj on Tuesday directed officials to ensure smooth power supply during the festival of Holi. He asked them to see to it that all consumers got power supply as per the schedule.
Directing them to make efforts to enhance revenue collection, Devraj said power supply of big defaulters should snapped if they did not clear their dues. He, however, cautioned against harassment of any consumers in the name of disconnection drive.
Devraj made it clear that the UPPCL was acting on the zero tolerance policy and action against the corrupt would continue with full force.
