As the strike by electricity employees entered the fifth day that saw sporadic protests by residents over power outages on Sunday, the government geared up for tougher measures to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
In an internal note (No. 50541/ID/PD/P5/2022) seen by The Hindu, the Industrial Development (Power) Department has tasked the Superintending Engineer-Head of Department of the Puducherry Electricity Department with taking all measures to ensure that public services are rendered without interruption.
The Superintending Engineer has also been directed to impress the fact upon employees that criminal action would be initiated against anyone found to be involved in unlawful activities, including acts of sabotage, and precipitating law and order problems by public agitations over power disruptions.
The note warns of invoking provisions under FR 17 (a) that constitutes forfeiture of past service against employees involved in dereliction of duty or engaging in unlawful acts.
The note, copies of which have been marked to the Secretary to the Lt. Governor, the SSP (Law and Order), the OSD to the Chief Minister, the OSD to the Power Minister and the Private Secretary to the Chief Secretary, categorically states that “the employees of the Electricity Department cannot be allowed to resort to such agitation in a public utility service department and they are duty bound to honour the duties cast upon them”.
Stating that the privatisation of the Electricity Department is a policy decision approved by the Government of India, the note references an earlier Government Order wherein the Electricity Department had been notified as a Public Utility Service under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, in the exigencies of public interest. In this regard, cessation of work by employees shall be deemed to be “on strike” under Section 3(q) of the Act, and therefore, liable for disciplinary action.
The note states that in view of the privatisation, the employees of the Electricity Department have gone in for a strike from September 28, thereby abstaining from their routine duties. Due to this, a lot of complaints are being received from members of the public about undue shutdown of supply in most of the areas of the Union Territory.
Meanwhile, Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan warned of stringent measures, including the invoking of the Essential Services Maintenance Act, if the strike caused hardship to people.
Interacting with the media, she stated that the government would not tolerate any act that affected members of the public such as tampering with the fuses at some sub-stations that led to the extended outage on Saturday, affecting even hospitals.
Electricity Minister A. Namassivayam has said the police would book those who were responsible for damaging power equipment, including the cutting of cables that caused power failure at Villianur and led to a road blockade by residents.
A spokesman for the electricity workers confederation denied involvement of those on strike in these incidents. He pointed out that though electricity workers had been organising protests against privatisation for over a year, they had always made sure that people were not affected. The acts of sabotage were carried out by miscreants and was being used as pretext to foist charges on employees, he said.
Meanwhile, about 120 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force from Avadi have arrived in the city to assist the police in providing security to power infrastructure and staff members deployed at sub-stations to manage electricity distribution under a contingency plan.
