Power Staff Strike in Haryana Over Eleven Power Licence Decision
Chandigarh, October 23: Shailendra Dubey, chairman of the All India Power Engineers Federation, has objected to Haryana's power licensing and privatisation policy, saying it runs against the interests of the public.
He raised questions over the granting of a power distribution licence in Gurugram to a private company. Dubey feared the step would deepen the financial difficulties of the state's electricity distribution corporation and called on the government to take back the decision.
Dubey said Eleven Power Company has a capital of only one crore rupees and no experience in the power sector, not even one day of work. Even so, it has been given a distribution licence for a significant city like Gurugram. He observed that no other part of the country has such a parallel distribution licensing system. He also asked why Haryana should adopt this model when industrial states such as Maharashtra and Gujarat have not.
According to Dubey, power consumers are divided into subsidised and non-subsidised categories. Government companies provide electricity below cost to subsidised consumers for public welfare, a practice that private firms cannot be expected to follow. He suspected the private company would mainly serve commercial and industrial users in Gurugram, as these segments offer higher profits. If this happens, he said, the South Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam will face additional financial pressure.
He further warned that tariffs might be low at first after privatisation but could rise over time. He feared the full distribution infrastructure would be handed over to the private company and said conditions similar to those seen with BSNL could develop in the power sector.
Dubey demanded that the regulatory commission be directed through policy instructions to cancel the licence. He said the government has the authority to do so under the Electricity Act.
He stated that the three-day strike by power employees and engineers is underway, and that the day of his remarks was the second day of the stawk. Employees had earlier given notice of a strike from December 1, after Dussehra, Diwali and Guru Nanak Jayanti. Despite this, he said, the government created a strike situation a day before Dussehra. He argued that the government should have responded sensitively to the workers' demands.
Dubey claimed that power employees and engineers across the country were standing with their counterparts in Haryana. He added that a joint front of employees and engineers from eight northern states had sent a letter to the Haryana Chief Minister supporting the strike. These states have said that if any employee from their region is assigned duty in Haryana during the strike, they will not go to work there.
He concluded that the primary demand of power sector staff and engineers is the cancellation of the licence granted to the private company. He urged the government to reconsider its policy with due regard to public interest and the possible effects on the electricity distribution system.