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Power staff boycott work, threaten 72-hour strike
The strike call has been given by the UP Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti to press its demand for implementation of the December 3 agreement signed in the presence of the energy minister before power employees agreed to call off their indefinite strike.
Even as power employees, including engineers, in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday launched a statewide work boycott, their union was preparing to go on a 72-hour-long total strike from Thursday 10 pm. The employees are demanding implementation of the December 3 accord amid energy minister AK Sharma pleas to call off the strike.
The government has already sent out strong signals to the agitating staff that it will deal with them sternly if they created any trouble for the public by disrupting power supply in any manner. Chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra issued necessary directions in this regard to district magistrates in a video conference held on Tuesday evening.
The strike call has been given by the UP Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti to press its demand for implementation of the December 3 agreement signed in the presence of the energy minister before power employees agreed to call off their indefinite strike.
The agreement, among other things, stated that the government would initiate, at the earliest, the process of making appointments to top positions in the energy corporation through the selection procedure as laid down through the normal transfer/posting route.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Samiti convenor Shailendra Dubey said employees were forced to go on a strike since the UP Power Corporation and the state government were not honouring the written pact.
He said the energy minister had sought 15 days to address the employees’ issues, but nothing had been done till date even 112 days after the agreement was signed. The strike, he said, was in response to the “stubborn attitude of the UPPCL’s top management”.
“All employees, including engineers and junior engineers, will launch a strike for 72 hours from Thursday 10 pm, and the management and the government will be responsible for any untoward incident during the protest,” he said.
Dubey also claimed that 27 lakh power employees across the country would stage protest demonstrations in their respective state capitals on Thursday in the support of their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh.
The UP Power Officers’ Association (UPOA), which represents Dalit engineers, meanwhile, declared that it was not participating in the strike. A delegation, led by association’s working president Avdhesh Kumar Verma, met the energy minister and assured him that its engineers would continue to maintain power supply in the state.
Sharma, once again, appealed to the Samiti member to call off the agitation and assured them that grievances would be redressed through dialogue.
Govt promises cashless treatment to employees, families
Energy minister AK Sharma on Wednesday announced that the state government has decided to provide cashless treatment to all power employees, pensioners and their family members in government hospitals and medical colleges.
The announcement is being seen as conscious attempt to placate the agitating employees, who have announced a 72-hour strike from Thursday night.
Widening the scope of cashless treatment was one of the promises made in the December 3 agreement.
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