Uttar Pradesh: Power staff continue 72-hour strike as talks fail; Govt warns action under ESMA

Uttar Pradesh government's talks with a section protesting power department employees failed to yield desired results as they continued their 72-hour strike that began on Thursday night at 10pm. The power department employees have alleged discrepancies in their promotion, pension and salary, among various other issues.

The government said last evening if the strike creates problems for the public, it will take action against the employees under ESMA and threatened to sack contractual workers who do not return to work. It also said action would be initiated under the National Security Act if vandalism occurs during demonstrations. The employees have been protesting under the banner of Vidyut Karmacharis Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, a union of electricity department employees.

UP power dept employees say strike has hit distribution, seek CM Yogi's intervention

The Uttar Pradesh electricity department employees, who have stopped work for three days since last night, on Friday claimed that their strike has hit power distribution in parts of the state and sought Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's intervention to end the atmosphere of confrontation.

The employees claim some of their demands agreed by the government in December last year have not been fulfilled by power corporations even after three months. The demands related to the selection of chairman and managing director in power companies and "pay anomalies".

Convenor Shailendra Dubey said in a statement on Friday that the employees had to go on strike "because of the stubborn attitude" of the top management of energy corporations. 

Seeking CM Adityanath's intervention to end the atmosphere of confrontation, Dubey said, "The strike is not our aim, an agreement was reached with the power minister on December 3, 2022, which the power corporation administration is refusing to comply with".

5 thermal power units at halt

He claimed five thermal power units , including Anpara, Obra, Parichaha, have come to a halt even after the government made employees not participating in the strike to work extra hours.

Meanwhile, a private electrician was seriously injured while working on an electric pole in Ballia. He was rushed to the district hospital but was later referred to a Varanasi hospital, an official said in Ballia.

About 1 lakh employees are participating in the strike, according to Dubey.

Dubey has said that the government and the employees had agreed on some points on December 23 last year but those points have not been implemented yet. He claimed that the government had agreed that the chairman and the managing director of the power companies would be selected through a committee headed by the chief secretary but these posts are now being filled on the basis of transfers.

Some other points of the agreement yet to be fulfilled are implementation of the Power Sector Employees Protection Act, stopping outsourcing of operation and maintenance of power sub-stations for transmission, equal honorarium for different corporations, and revision of allowances and removal of salary anomalies, he added