Chennai: Chief minister N Rangasamy met employees of the Puducherry electricity department on Monday as their indefinite strike against the privatisation of their sector continued for a sixth day.
C Arulmozhi, one of those leading the protests, said the chief minister promised to convey their concerns to the Union government. “He has told us that he will bring a good resolution to this,” said Arulmozhi. “Our talks were satisfactory,” he said, adding that they would discuss with their protesting peers and arrive at a decision.
Earlier in the day, the chief minister also chaired a meeting with home minister A Namassivayam, who also holds the electricity portfolio, and other departmental officials to discuss the matter. Hundreds of government employees took part in the protest on Monday along with the labour wings of the Left parties and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). Namassivayam has agreed to drop cases registered against protesters.
The employees want to secure their employment in the government until their retirement as they do not want to lose their status as government employees.They want the government to reconsider the move to privatise. However, the NDA government says that they will protect the employees with salaries, terminal benefits and pensions to remain the same even as they go ahead with their plans of privatisation.
The protests were held after the government issued a tender on September 27 to a private entity to take over Puducherry’s distribution and retail supply of electricity. On the following day, thousands of employees including engineers began their protest. The union territory had plunged into darkness from Saturday evening which was restored in a staggered way. Public who were affected also came on to the streets to protest against power cuts. On Sunday night, police detained over 100 protesters and let them off at night. Puducherry’s lieutenant governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also warned those protesting of dire consequences for disrupting an essential service.
{{/usCountry}}The protests were held after the government issued a tender on September 27 to a private entity to take over Puducherry’s distribution and retail supply of electricity. On the following day, thousands of employees including engineers began their protest. The union territory had plunged into darkness from Saturday evening which was restored in a staggered way. Public who were affected also came on to the streets to protest against power cuts. On Sunday night, police detained over 100 protesters and let them off at night. Puducherry’s lieutenant governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also warned those protesting of dire consequences for disrupting an essential service.
{{/usCountry}}The opposition in the union territory, which includes the Congress, DMK, CPI,CPI (M) and VCK, has criticised the All India N R Congress (AINRC) chief minister, their principal ally BJP and the lieutenant governor. “She is helping the Centre to sell a profit making government entity to a private entity. The lieutenant governor is working against the interests of the union territory,” DMK leader R Siva had said earlier. “The Centre thinks they can experiment on anything in Puducherry.”
Speaking to HT, Namassivayam said the protesters cited examples of how in other states, such as UP, measures to privatise are afoot but only a partial stake sell-off whereas in Puducherry selling 100% stake to private players would not protect them. “They want us to hold on for a while until there is some clarity since a similar court case is pending in Chandigarh and also to see the outcome of the Electricity Amendment Bill, 2022,” said Namassivayam. “We will go ahead with privatisation but we will take in their concerns and see how we can meet midway.”