Power engineers to call on Chandigarh Administrator Banwarilal Purohit against privatisation

Chandigarh, January 18

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A delegation of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) will meet UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit on February 1 and hand over a memorandum to him against the privatisation of the UT Power Department.

VK Gupta, spokesperson, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), said an online meeting of the NCCOEEE was held today under the leadership of Shailendra Dubey, chairman, AIPEF. It was decided to oppose the decision of privatisation of profit-making power departments of the UTs of Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry.

He said NCCOEEE core committee leaders would reach Chandigarh on February 1 to support UT power sector employees’ strike against the privatisation.

He said the Chandigarh Power Department had been making profit for the past seven years. Profit for 2020-2021 was Rs257 crore and line losses in Chandigarh were only 9.2 per cent. The electricity tariff of Chandigarh was also cheaper as compared to Punjab and Haryana. The privatisation of such a profit-making utility was not acceptable. Gupta said a petition filed by UT employees was sub judice as the matter was first referred to the Supreme Court, which then directed it to High Court. The next date of hearing was January 20 and the High Court was yet to decide the case on its merit. The Union Cabinet had approved the bid of the highest bidder on January 6 to privatise the Electricity Department of Chandigarh. —