Puducherry electricity workers halt protest after NDA government says will look into demands

Importantly, speaking to South First, Electricity Engineers and Employees’ Privatisation Protest Committee General Secretary P Velmurugan claimed that the government had agreed to take up a proposal floated by them with the Union Home Ministry about bringing down the private equity share to 49 percent, with the government controlling 51 percent shares in the power sector, as opposed to the current 100 percent privatisation plan.

“By doing this, the power sector will continue to be a government-run entity and the workers can continue being government employees. The government sought time of 10-15 days to consult with the Union Home Ministry about the new proposal. Hence, we have suspended our protest till Deepavali to give time to the government,” he said.

According to Velmurugan, the new proposal was brought after the NDA government stated that as a Union Territory, Puducherry had constraints to completely object to the implementation of a decision by the Union government.

“However, if our demands are not met, we will resume our protest,” Velmurugan said.

On Monday, the chief minister also chaired a Cabinet meeting to discuss the agitation by the Electricity Department workers.

Electricity Minister A Namassivayam told reporters after the meetings: “Talks were held with the electricity workers. In that meeting, the employees put forward certain demands. The chief minister assured them that the government will look into their demands, and take action after consultation. The meeting was held in an amicable manner.”

What led to the protests?

The protest by the Electricity Department employees, including engineers, started after the NDA government in the state floated a tender on 27 September seeking bids to sell 100 percent of its stake in power distribution and retail supply to private players, based on a proposal from the Central government.

Over 20,000 workers, who were taking part in the protest, said that they would not attend to any power outage or failure, maintenance works, bill collection, meter reading, and other such duties until the time the government withdrew the decision.

As a result of the agitation, Puducherry witnessed massive power disruption on Saturday evening.  Several areas in the Union Territory were plunged into darkness for up to 12 hours. This led to protests by the citizens in some places.

The government alleged that the power disruption happened because a few protesting workers disconnected the fuse carriers at some substations. A total of 29 employees were booked for this under four sections of the IPC, including charges of trespass. Hundreds of protesting workers were also detained by the police.

The Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan had warned of action under the Essential Services Maintenance Act against those causing artificial power disruption and causing inconvenience to the general public.