Proposed privatisation: Power men in U.P. to wear black armbands in protest
The protest to be organised under the banner of the Uttar Pradesh Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti aims to highlight the financial and operational inefficiencies caused by these privatisation efforts
Electricity department employees, including engineers, across Uttar Pradesh will wear black armbands on Tuesday in protest against the proposed privatisation of two power distribution companies, demanding a thorough review of the privatisation experiments in Agra and Greater Noida before implementing similar measures elsewhere.
The protest to be organised under the banner of the Uttar Pradesh Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti aims to highlight the financial and operational inefficiencies caused by these privatisation efforts.
Committee leaders, including Rajeev Singh, Jitendra Singh Gurjar, Girish Pandey, Mahendra Rai, Suhail Abid, PK Dixit and others, claimed that the privatisation of Agra’s power distribution, handed over to Torrent Power on April 1, 2010, led to substantial losses.
“In 2023-24 alone, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) sold 2,300 million units of electricity to Torrent Power for ₹4.36 per unit, despite purchasing it at ₹5.55 per unit. This caused a loss of ₹275 crore last fiscal and cumulative losses over 14 years have reached ₹2,434 crore,” Sangharsh Smiti convenor Shailendra Dubey said.
He argued that Agra, a hub of tourism and industry, could have earned UPPCL more than ₹8 per unit in revenue had the distribution system remained under its control.
Similarly, the privatisation of Greater Noida has been criticised for the private company’s failure to establish its own power generation facility, as per the agreement.
With 85% of the load in Greater Noida being industrial and commercial, UPPCL has lost a major revenue source. Additionally, the company neither provides free power to farmers nor prioritises domestic consumers, causing public inconvenience.
