The Uttar Pradesh electricity department employees on Friday claimed that their strike has hit power distribution in parts of the state, as reported by the news agency PTI. The employees, who have stopped work for three days since last night, have sought Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's intervention in the matter to put things to rest.
The employees began their strike at 10 pm on Thursday, claiming some of their demands agreed by the government in December last year have not been fulfilled by power corporations even after three months. According to PTI, the demands are related to the selection of chairman and managing director in power companies and "pay anomalies".
Last evening, the government said that if the strike creates problems for the public, it will take action against the employees under ESMA and threatened to sack contractual workers who do not return to work. It also said action would be initiated under the National Security Act if vandalism occurs during demonstrations.
The employees have been protesting under the banner of Vidyut Karmacharis Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, a union of electricity department employees. The convenor of the Union Shailendra Dubey said in a statement on Friday that the employees had to go on strike "because of the stubborn attitude" of the top management of energy corporations, as reported by PTI.
Seeking CM 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", as quoted by PTI. He claimed five thermal power units , including Anpara, Obra, Parichaha, have come to a halt even after the government made employees not participating in the strike to work extra hours.
Meanwhile, a private electrician was seriously injured while working on an electric pole in Ballia. He was rushed to the district hospital but was later referred to a Varanasi hospital, an official said in Ballia, PTI reported. According to Dubey, about 1 lakh employees are participating in the strike. Dubey has said that the government and the employees had agreed on some points on December 23 last year but those points have not been implemented yet.
He further claimed that the government had agreed that the chairman and the managing director of the power companies would be selected through a committee headed by the chief secretary but these posts are now being filled on the basis of transfers. Some other points of the agreement yet to be fulfilled are 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 added, as reported by PTI.