State power discoms oppose Adani’s entry into Thane-Navi Mumbai

The Maharashtra State Electricity Workers Federation, representing 30 organisations, on Monday held a protest at Mahavitaran office in Wagle Estate opposing the alleged privatisation of the state utility and the entry of Adani Electricity into Thane-Navi Mumbai region

The Maharashtra State Electricity Workers Federation, representing 30 organisations, on Monday held a protest at Mahavitaran office in Wagle Estate opposing the alleged privatisation of the state utility and the entry of Adani Electricity into Thane-Navi Mumbai region.

Thane, India - December 12, 2022: All unions and associations of electricity company employees, officers, engineers stage a protest against Adani, state government and central government for privatization of electricity industry of Maharashtra and its policies, in front MSDCL Office, Wagle Estate, in Thane, Mumbai, India, on Monday, December 12, 2022. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Simultaneous protests by employees of Mahavitaran or Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited, and Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited were held at Prakashgad office in Bandra, Dharavi and Vashi.

“This is just the beginning. We have lined up a series of activities - from a pen-down strike to a morcha to Vidhan Bhavan in Nagpur to an indefinite strike - in the next one month,” Lileshwar Bansod, joint secretary of the federation, told HT.

On December 19, the federation has planned a pen-down strike across the state. “We will return the mobile phone SIM cards given by the company, and no phone calls will be attended as part of the non-cooperation with the management,” Bansod said.

The winter session of the state legislature will commence in Nagpur on December 19, and the federation has planned a morcha to Vidhan Bhavan on December 23. On January 4, the employees have planned a 72-hour strike, and an indefinite strike from January 18.

“Before the Central government can bring in the Electricity [Amendment] Bill 2022, an independent power utility is being set up for agricultural consumers. Doors of Mahavitaran are being opened to a private player like Adani Group. Hundreds of posts in all three utilities are being kept vacant to allow the entry of contractual and outsourced employees. Daily works in power utilities are being given to empanelled private players. All these are aimed at bringing in privatisation in state power utilities and Adani Electricity’s entry into profitable zone like Bhandup is the beginning of it. We strongly oppose this,” the federation spokesperson said.

The new bill amends the Electricity Act of 2003 and some of the key provisions allow multiple discoms in the same area, removes the requirement for discoms to distribute electricity through their own network, which allows them to provide open access to its network by other discoms, and permits sharing of power and associated costs between multiple licensees etc.

Adani Electricity Navi Mumbai Limited, a 100% subsidiary of Adani Transmission Limited, has applied to Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for a power distribution licence for Mulund, Bhandup, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Kharghar, Taloja and Uran.

Section 14 of the Electricity Act 2003 empowers the MERC to grant a licence to two or more discoms within the same area of supply. Similar parallel distribution licence already exists in Mumbai where Adani Electricity, BEST, and Tata Power compete to supply power. Adani Group has proposed a ₹5,700-crore investment to roll out its own distribution network and is expected to provide a choice of power suppliers to an estimated five lakh consumers.