Lakhs of Power Sector Employees Hold Protests Against Move to Privatise UP Utilities

New Delhi: Nearly seven lakh power sector employees held protests across the country against the move to privatise power utilities in Uttar Pradesh.

Congratulating the wide participation by power sector employees across states, the National Co‑ordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), said the Uttar Pradesh Power Department was trying to privatise Dakshinanchal and Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited at throw‑away prices.

“This will affect consumers in 42 of the state’s 75 districts. Power employees and engineers have been struggling for the last seven months to resist this privatisation attempt, withstanding severe attacks and threats,” NCCOEEE said in a statement.

The organisation had called for lunch‑hour demonstrations at all electricity supply offices, substations, and generation plants. It said the programme was “observed massively” throughout the country—from Jammu & Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, and from Maharashtra to Tripura—in generation, transmission, and distribution utilities within both the Central and state spheres. The protest was deferred in Kerala to July 5, due to heavy rain.

Sudip Dutta, convenor of the organisation said, “While the struggling UP power employees were questioning the rationale and integrity of the privatisation process, the state government, in a vindictive and autocratic move, lodged FIRs and filed charges against its own employees and citizens in a desperate attempt to dismantle the anti‑privatisation struggle.” The NCCOEEE extended strong solidarity to the employees and engineers of UP and urged the government to withdraw the charges immediately.

Power employees also vowed to make the national strike call by Central trade unions on July 9 “historic”, and said it expected the participation of 27 lakh (2.7 million) electricity workers across the country.

NCCOEEE also urged the Central government to roll back its intention to privatise public power utilities through various avenues, including direct privatisation, the National Monetisation Pipeline, parallel licensing of DISCOMs, contractualisation and outsourcing of permanent and perennial jobs, and the implementation of the anti-worker labour codes.

"The long‑pending issues of power employees must be heard and resolved in the best interests of the consumers and the nation,” the statement read.

It also called upon the country’s 145 crore consumers to “stand firmly beside the striking power employees and extend solidarity to their struggle”, adding that the active participation of farmers would add great moral and organisational strength to this struggle.