Be prepared for power outages; 15 lakh PSU power sector employees to go on strike on this date

Protesting against privatisation, nearly 15 lakh employees of PSUs in the power sector will observe a one-day protest on 8 January 2019. The engineers will also join the strike that allegedly aims at privatising the public sector power companies by bringing an amendment to the Electricity Act, 2003. “The private power companies are already responsible for scams of around Rs 2.5 lakh crore but no action has been taken against them. Instead, with the new bill, the government is preparing for bigger scams,” said All India Power Engineers’ Federation (AIPEF) Chairman Shailendra Dubey.

He said that many other unions such as the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) will also join the strike. The employees will not attend work on the day of strike and any faults will be addressed only a day after. NCCOEEE has said if the government amends the bill, the power engineers will go on further strike without any prior notice.