Employees and engineers’ associations of all power utilities in the State staged protest demonstrations against the privatisation policies being adopted by the Central Government, particularly in the energy sector, and announced that they would go on strike on August 10 in case the Union government introduces Electricity Bill in the current session of Parliament.
The protests were held across the State in response to a call given by National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees & Engineers (NCCOEEE) in front of the offices of power utilities TS-Genco, TS-Transco, TSSPDCL and TSNPDCL.
In Hyderabad, the protest was held at Mint Compound in which employees and engineers of all the power utilities participated and raised slogans against privatisation of energy sector.
Representatives of employees and engineers associations – N. Padma Reddy, P. Saibabu, P. Ratnakar Rao, M. Sadanandam, B.C. Reddy, Laxminarayana, Saidulu, Md. Vazeer, Sayilu, Jyothirani, Sudhakar Reddy, Moses, G. Nagarju, Karunakar Reddy, Eshwar Goud, Shyam Manohar and others demanded that the Centre withdraw the Electricity Amendment Bill 2021.
A delegation would meet Union Power Minister on July 27 to submit a memorandum against the Bill.
They stated that representatives of employees and engineers associations of power utilities across the country would gather at Shram Shakti Bhavan in New Delhi on August 3 and stage a satyagraha for four days to register their protest against the Bill.
The employees alleged that the Bill is aimed at handing over the utilities supplying energy to 25 crore consumers, including industries and agriculture sectors, at affordable price to private companies.
The 2021 Bill would allow privatisation of distribution utilities (Discoms) after introducing de-licensing with 2003 Bill to allow generation in the private sector.
They also demanded that the ongoing privatisation exercise in some States and Union Territories be stopped by scrapping the franchisees, licences given to some private companies.
