The Uttar Pradesh power employees, who have stopped work for three days since Thursday night, on Friday claimed that their strike had hit power distribution in parts of the state and sought Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s intervention to end the atmosphere of confrontation.
Power employee's joint action committee spearheading the state-wide strike claimed that the participation in strike was 100 per cent as none of the 34,000 regular and 67,000 contractual power employees reported on duty on Friday.
The strike has affected thermal power generation and five units with installed capacity of 1,850 MW were shut down.
Convener of the joint action committee, Shailendra Dubey, said here on Friday that the strike commenced from 10 pm on Thursday and not a single employee reported on duty at the State Level Despatch Centre and transmission sub-stations and the strike was complete across the state.
He said the power grid had also been affected as several transmission lines tripped on Friday leading to power outage in large parts of eastern UP and Bundelkhand.
With the tripping of transmission lines the power distribution sub-stations of 33/11 kV were also rendered non-functional.
Dubey said two units of 210 MW each at Anpara thermal power station, two units of 200 MW each at Obra and two units of 210 MW each at Parichha and many other units had to be shut down due to strike. He claimed that 1,850 MW of thermal power generation was affected.
The joint action committee convener contradicted the energy minister's charge of sabotage of the power distribution network. Dubey said "the charge is entirely baseless and for the power employs the sub-station, equipment and power infrastructure is like mother".
Dubey said the employees had to go on strike “because of the stubborn attitude” of the top management of energy corporations.
Seeking Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s intervention to end the atmosphere of confrontation, Dubey said, “The strike is not our aim, an agreement was reached with the power minister on December 3, 2022, which the power corporation administration is refusing to comply with”.
"We are sensitive towards the people and society. The strike call is only for three days which also includes Sunday to cause minimum inconvenience to the people," Dubey said.
The joint action committee convener alleged that in many districts the employees of evening shift were taken hostage on Thursday evening after they completed their duty and were not allowed to go home and were forced to work till 7 am on Friday. He said several employees fell sick in several districts.
Blaming the government for the strike, Dubey claimed the government in December last year had agreed upon the change in the selection process of the chairman and the managing director of the power companies. He said as per the mutual consensus it was decided that the chairman and the MD would be selected through a committee headed by the chief secretary.
Even after three months of the decision, these posts are now being filled on the basis of transfers, Dubey said.
He added that apart from the selection of top officials, the government also agreed for the implementation of the Power Sector Employees' Protection Act, stopping outsourcing of operation and maintenance of power sub-stations for transmission, equal honorarium for different corporations and revision of allowances and removal of salary anomalies. He said the employees going on strike include engineers, junior engineers and technicians, operating staff, clerical and contractual employees.
