M A I N   N E W S

UP extends deadline for strikers
60 powermen dismissed

LUCKNOW, Jan 17 (UNI, PTI) — The Uttar Pradesh government today terminated the services of 60 power engineers in the wake of the strike by Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board (UPSEB) employees and issued an ultimatum to the staff to join duty by the morning of January 19.

State Energy Minister Naresh Agarwal today said that the engineers whose services had been terminated were of the rank of assistant engineers to superintendent engineers. The services of the employees, who failed to report for duty at 10 am on January 19, would be considered terminated and subsequently, the process of new recruitment would be started.

Admitting that the alternative arrangements made by the state government went haywire following the call of about one lakh power employees of the state, he expressed hope that the situation would improve in the coming days.

Mr Agarwal said the total generation of the state was to the tune of about 1100 MW, which included 819 MW thermal generation from Anpara and 360 MW of hydro-electric generation. The state government was importing 2500 MW power from the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), he said.

The Energy Minister said the authorities had to impose a power cut of 800 MW.The situation was, however, expected to improve after the import of another 500 MW allowed by the Central government.

Power Secretary Atul Chaturvedi, however, described the situation as “tough and tense”, but claimed that there was a slight improvement since yesterday as the strike entered its third day today.

A total of 2,435 powermen had been arrested since Saturday and the National Security Act (NSA) invoked against six leaders of the electricity employees agitating against the trifurcation of the UPSEB by the state government.

Of the arrested persons, 1,738 had been lodged in various jails while 613 were released who had since resumed duty, the Power Minister claimed.

Mr Agarwal said power employees in 11 districts had not participated in the strike and were helping the government in maintaining electricity supply.

Mr Agarwal today denied reports of the possibility of the failure of the northern grid due to the strike.

Reacting to the publication of such

reports in a section of the media, he said it was a sensitive issue and such news items should not be flashed without verification.

He said Union Energy Minister P.R.Kumarmangalam would come to Lucknow to review the situation.

He clarified that the government was ready to start negotiations on all issues except the matter related to the reconstitution of the UPSEB.

In New Delhi, the chairman of the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, Mr R.P.Singh, said the strike would have no impact on the power scenario in Uttar Pradesh as well as the northern region.

Meanwhile, the striking powermen rejected the government’s appeal to return to their duty and said they would not bow under such pressure tactics.

Mr Shailendra Dubey, spokesman for the powermen’s joint action committee said the government should first withdraw the notification trifurcating the UP State Electricity Board (UPSEB) and then hold talks.

An estimated 10,000 powermen had also courted arrest in several places of the state.

The union also decided to challenge in the Supreme Court the Allahabad High Court order to declare the strike “illegal” saying that the court’s decision had been one-sided. “Our representatives are already in New Delhi in this connection”, Mr Dubey said.

Protest demonstrations were held at a number of places in the state as residents came out in large numbers, saying that their complaints had not been attended to during the past two days.

Services at vital installations were also affected with hospitals postponing “operations” due to the non-availability of power, reports said.

The Northern India Power Engineers Federation (NIPEF), meanwhile, has decided to resort to “work to rule” from midnight tonight and strike on Friday in protest against the alleged repressive measures of the Uttar Pradesh Government against the striking engineers and workers, a report from Delhi said.

CBI to probe college girl’s killing

NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (PTI) — The probe into the shocking killing of a college student in a mistaken identity case by the Uttar Pradesh police in Meerut has been handed over to the CBI by the state government.

The Uttar Pradesh government has handed over the case to the CBI at the instance of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, official sources said here today.

Smita Bhaduri, a teenager, was shot dead last Friday by the police at a village in a case of mistaken identity while she along with her friend Mohit Tyagi, both B.Com (final) students, was returning home in a car.

While a police inspector A.K. Kaushik, accused in the case, had been arrested yesterday, another constable Surinder Singh, who had absconded, was arrested today, SSP R.P. Singh said.