Chandigarh Administration, powermen talks inconclusive

The talks between the UT Administration and the striking powermen remained inconclusive. VK Gupta, spokesperson, All-India Power Engineers Federation, said they did not get any concrete assurance from the Chandigarh Administration.

UT Adviser Dharam Pal said, “We tried to negotiate with the striking employees the whole day and have been lenient with them so far.”

Gupta said a memorandum had been sent to the Union Home Minister with a demand to review the decision to privatise the Electricity Department. He said the privatisation model was exposed to market risks and could cause steep and uncontrolled tariff hikes. The guarantee of low tariffs was available to consumers in the UT, but with the department going into private hands,