Puducherry, June 2 (BPNS)
Engineers and employees of Puducherry electricity department will intensify their fight against privatization of the power department with a hunger strike from June 8 onwards.
The protesting employees said that the hunger strike will not affect the functioning of the department as the employees will be conducting the strike on a rotation basis.
P. Velmurugan of the protesting employees association in a statement said that uninterrupted power supply will be maintained in the Union Territory and that people will in no way be affected by the strike.
It may be noted that the employees had conducted a pen-down strike a week before demanding the central and state governments to refrain from privatization of the electricity department of Puducherry.
Velmurugan said that even after the Chief Minister N . Rangasamy had given an assurance to the electricity employees of Puducherry that privatization will not be conducted in the Union Territory without taking the employees and general public into confidence. The employee leader in the statement however said that the privatization work is in progress without any further discussions.
The leader said that they have conducted a meeting with the Superintendent Engineer who is also the head of the department and informed him of the impending hunger strike in protest to the privatization of the power department.
The employees have informed the territorial government that their status as the government employees be retained and that their service conditions are not affected.
The opposition Secular Progressive Democratic Alliance (SDPA) has conducted protests against the privatization of the power department. The alliance led by Congress even held a human chain protest against the move in which former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader, V. Narayanaswamy, leader of opposition and DMK leader, R. Siva, CPI- M state secretary,R. Rajangam, CPI state secretary, A.M. Saleem participated.
The leaders said that a chain of protests will be conducted in Puducherry against the reported move to privatize the electricity department. They said that the privatization would lead to a five-f increase in electricity bills, an increase in charges for new connections, and scrapping of 100 units of free power to those below poverty line and farmers.
