Power outages in J&K: AIPEF seeks Lieutenant Governor’s intervention

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NEW DELHI, Dec 19: The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has urged Jammu & Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in the ongoing work boycott by 21,000 electricity employees and engineers of Jammu & Kashmir.
AIPEF spokesperson V K Gupta said in a statement said the Jammu and Kashmir electricity employees and engineers are on indefinite work boycott to press for their four-point demands.
The demands are — shelving a proposed joint venture between Jammu and Kashmir Power Transmission Corporation Ltd and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd; a white paper on non-fulfilment of the recommendations of the unbundling report and the failure to create positions as mandated by the committee at Gazetted and Non-Gazetted levels; regularisation of daily wagers; and regularisation of all power development department engineers.
“The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has sought the intervention of the Jammu & Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in the ongoing work boycott by the 21000 electricity employees and engineers of Jammu & Kashmir,” AIPEF said in the statement.
Meanwhile, Shailendra Dubey Chairman AIPEF reached Jammu on Saturday to support the All Power Employees and Engineers’ coordination committee and said that instead of coming out with a resolution of the issues, the government has cited termination and dismissal, without any reasons.
National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE ) held an emergency online meeting on Sunday and it has been decided that demonstrations will be held across the country from December 20 to 22 to support J&K’s power sector employees.
The memorandum will be mailed to the lieutenant governor with a copy to the home minister and the Union power minister by all the constituents on December 20.
It has been decided by the coordination committee of employees and engineers that if any employee is arrested or any punitive action is taken against any employee, all the power employees and engineers from Jammu and Kashmir will be forced to offer mass court arrest in the district headquarters the responsibility of this shall lie on the government.
Several areas of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed electricity outages as linemen to senior engineers begin their indefinite strike on Saturday against the government’s privatisation move and failure of two-round talks.
During the night-hours, there was a blackout in nearly 50 per cent of areas across J&K. (Agencies)