BHOPAL: Various unions of electricity employees have come together against proposed amendment in Electricity Act by Union government and have announced a nationwide strike on January 8.
A meeting of National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCEEE) was held in Bhopal on Sunday where unanimous decision was taken to support the nationwide strike on January 8.
All 15 lakh employees of electricity department from across India will take part in it and boycott the work on January 8. NCCEEE announced that if union government tries to amendment the Act through ordinance then the employees will go on strike immediately, without giving any notice to government.
‘More than Rs 2.5 lakh crore of various banks are already at stake because of fraud committed by private electricity manufacturers. Instead of taking action on them government is trying to give them reprieve through a bigger scam,’ said Shailendra Dubey of NCCEEE.
All electricity unions of MP would be participating in it. Any fault occurring on January 8 will be attended only on the next day, he added.
Explaining about the proposed amendment, Dubey said that subsidy and cross subsidy will be ended if amendment is done- which means that electricity will be costlier for common people and rates for industrialists will come down. Electricity may cost up to Rs 10-12 per unit for common man if amendment is done.
Government power companies will be bounded by universal power obligation which means they will have to supply power to everyone while private players can operate on their choice, he added. This will put extra pressure on state run power companies leading to more financial losses.
NCCEEE is also demanding revoking of old pension scheme which was finished by Modi government.
