Excelsior Correspondent
srinagar, July 18: All power engineers and employees of UT of Jammu and Kashmir under the tutelage of Jammu and Kashmir Power Engineers and Employees Coordination Committee (JKPEECC) will resort to agitation in case the proposal of privatization is not withdrawn.
This was stated in a joint statement issued by Mohammad Maqbool Najar, President, JKEEU, Er Kaise Illahi Mir, President DEA (Electrical) and Er Munshi Majid Ali, President JKEEGA.
“It is learnt that Secretary Power GoI, has convened first meeting of high level steering committee to steer the initiative of privatization of Power Department and Utilities in Union Territories. This development has sent ripples across rank and file of power employees consisting of more than 26000 families. It is very astonishing that Union Territory of J&K is being asked to jump into privatization foray without getting into the details of the ground realities. Grouping of UT of J&K in decision implementation vis-à-vis the rest of the Union Territories of India is nothing but farce”, they added.
They said that the new proposal of privatization reveals that Government is not serious in bringing in reforms in the Department but is in a hurry to throw off the responsibility of the department and making its 26000 employees and their families just the scapegoats. Power employees will oppose any kind of decision with regard to privatization taken in a hurry however the power employees are committed to work for reforms and are of the opinion that the intended reforms of unbundling of PDD be in the first place be realized by bringing in the proposed changes both at administrative as well as executive levels, they added.
Jammu and Kashmir Power Engineers and Employees Coordination Committee (JKPE-ECC) in one voice opposes any proposal of privatization of power sector in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
If Government in future moves ahead with any plan of privatization, the situation for power employees, as far as career prospectus and service conditions are concerned, may get complicated and worsen which in any case can’t be afforded to and thus any such move shall be resisted tooth and nail, they said, adding that as the proposed amendments in the Electricity Act 2003 and National Tariff Policy are not only anti-employees but also against the interests of general public, all power engineers and employees of UT of Jammu and Kashmir under the tutelage of JKPEECC will have no option but to resort to agitation in case the proposal of privatization is not withdrawn.
Follow our WhatsApp channel