THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) denounced the attempts of the Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh to unbundle the Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd (PVVNL), in a bid to privatise it through the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020.

The CITU said that the government’s decision to divide the power distribution system into three entities which will then have to bid for electricity distribution will lead to an increase in electricity rates, severely affecting the poor living in rural and tribal areas.

The CITU also condemned the ‘vindictive attitude’ of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) management, and alleged that the management is trying to intimidate the leaders of the joint struggle committee with threats when they should be calling for discussions with them. The UPPCL has issued notice to 18 leaders of the joint struggle committee and threatened them of imprisonment under ESMA, National Disaster Management Act etc, the CITU said.

The Vidyut Karmachari Samyukt Sangharsh Samiti, a joint struggle committee of electricity employees and engineers in the state, in opposition to the UPPCL management has given a call to launch a huge movement against the privatisation of electricity distribution. It has served notice to the UP government and the management on August 14 and decided to hold protest meetings on every working day in all the districts covered by the PVVNL in the first phase of the agitation.
“These protest meetings are being conducted with huge participation of electricity employees and engineers. Wide campaign is also being conducted among the consumers and the people in general to create awareness about the outcome of unbundling and privatisation,” the union said.

The CITU congratulated the joint struggle committee of the Power employees for its struggle against the privatisation of electricity and its determination to continue with its second phase of indefinite strike and jail bharo. It fully supported its struggle and stands in solidarity with the electricity employees and engineers in the state.

The CITU called upon all its units across the country to send solidarity messages to the Vidyut Karmachari Samyukt Sangharsh Samiti of Uttar Pradesh supporting their struggle. It also called upon the people of UP and the entire country to support the struggle against privatisation of electricity in all possible ways and said that it is not the struggle of electricity employees alone and will impact all sections of society including the common consumers, the peasants, industries and industrial workers.
The CITU demanded the BJP government to immediately withdraw the ‘disastrous’ Electricity Amendment Bill and called upon the people to come together against privatisation of electricity and tell the BJP government in unambiguous terms – ‘We Will Not Allow Privatisation of Electricity in Any Manner’.