Power staff won’t work under pvt firm: Federation

The Electricity Employees Federation of India (EEFI) has stated that employees of the UT Power Department would not work under a private company. The employees continue their protest against the administration’s move to privatise the department.

Today, an online meeting of the federation was organised to discuss the movement of the general public and employees against the proposed privatisation. The meeting was chaired by EEFI national vice-president and All-Haryana Power Corporations Workers Union president Suresh Rathi.

The vice-president of the Electricity Employees Federation of India, Subhash Lamba, said it was unfortunate that despite strong opposition from the public and employees, the administration was handing over the assets to a private company from January 1. He stated that the electricity employees of UT Chandigarh would not work under the private company. Since the employees have been working in a government department and the service rules of the Central Government apply to them, they cannot be forced to work under any private company, he said.

Representatives from the states of Haryana, Punjab, HP and J&K gave a clear warning that if the administration took unilateral action and forcibly handed over the department in private hands on January 1, then the electricity employees of the four states might be forced to protest and go on strike.