Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee correspondent
Several organisations came together in Mumbai on Sunday, July 7, 2024 under the banner of Vidyut Smart Meter Virodhi Kruti Samiti (Action Committee for Opposing Electricity Smart Meters), and declared that they would fight against the installation of smart electricity meters till the Scheme is withdrawn.
Adv. Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar (Ex-Mayor, Mumbai) welcomed all the participants. She explained why the smart meters would be disastrous for consumers and electricity workers alike and welcomed the eminent speakers as well as honoured guests to the stage. These included Shri Ashok Kumar, Member of the All India Council of the Lok Raj Sangathan, Mr. Arvind Tiwari, (Adv. Supreme Court and High Court), Shri Vitthalrao Gaikwad (General Secretary Mumbai Electricity Workers Union, Shri Suhas Samant (President, BEST Kamgar Sena) and Shri Girish (Joint Secretary, Kamgar Ekta Committee). Smt. Vidya Chavan (ex MLA), Mr. Aveen Gubbi, Assistant Treasurer, K.P.T.C. Employees Union (who had come with his colleague, Mr. Harish all the way from Bengaluru specifically for the meeting) also briefly addressed the gathering.
The hall was packed to capacity with women and men from all walks of life. They eagerly bought the informative booklet brought out by 46 organisations from all over the country, including Kamgar Ekta Committee and Lok Raj Sangathan, exposing the reality of smart meters and the nefarious plan of the monopoly corporations behind their introduction. Some people had come to learn about the impending attack. Others had already seen their electricity bills doubled and tripled after the installation of smart meters in Mumbai and could later be seen angrily denouncing the leaders of all the political parties who had pursued privatisation, whenever they were in power, since 1991. After the speeches were over, time was given to the participants to ask questions or express their views.
The meeting was well structured, with clearly delineated topic for all speakers.
In the meeting it was explained that there are two aspects of the fight against smart meters, short term as well as long term, and we will have to fight today keeping the long-term needs in mind.
In the short term, we have to make this fight even stronger by holding more such awareness programs, by disseminating the literature that we have already produced, by using all types of media. We should approach all organisations and try to raise a strong, united campaign. We should do this irrespective of the ideology that these organisations may uphold.
We should challenge the thinking that electricity should be a source of profiteering. Basic services like electricity, transport, supply of water, health, education and sanitation services cannot be regarded as a source of profit!
The government is giving up its responsibility to ensure basic services to everyone at affordable rates. The government collects taxes only because it has the duty of ensuring a good life for all. Indirect taxes are paid by all, no matter how poor they are. They form the largest fraction of taxes.
The smart metering scheme will deprive many people of our country of electricity, which is a basic necessity today. We workers and toilers must insist on policies which would ensure that no citizen of the country is deprived of electricity.
Seeing the growing opposition to smart meters building up against it from different parts of the state, and keeping the impending state elections in mind, the Maharashtra Government has declared that smart meters will not be installed for domestic and other small consumers. This is obviously false, as are other pre-election promises, because the installation of smart meters is a part of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), which was launched by the Central Government in July 2021 and no state government can override the Central Government’s Scheme.
Our long term objective
We should remember that every political party in power has carried out further privatisation of electricity, ever since the launch of LPG (globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation) in 1991. All state governments are implementing the smart meter scheme, even now as we are speaking.
Privatisation is the agenda of big monopoly capitalists. The monopoly capitalists dictate policies to be implemented by the Central and state governments. When in “opposition”, parties in parliament make a big drama of raising people’s voices, but once they form the government, they dance to the tune of the biggest monopoly capitalists.
Moreover, the decisions most vital to the people like demonetisation, privatisation of a particular enterprise, and so on, are taken outside parliament, and RDSS is no exception.
Having the right to vole gives the illusion of democracy, but in reality, people have no say in how the country is run. Our so-called representatives are not accountable to us. They have to rubber-stamp the decisions of the High Commands of their respective parties. The present political and electoral system has been designed to keep people out of power.
We must understand that it is the capitalist class that is ruling our country. Our economy is oriented to maximising the profits of the capitalist. Within the ruling class, the interests of the biggest capitalists are supreme. The biggest monopoly houses head the ruling class. It is not just about Ambani and Adani. There are about 150 big families include Tata, Birla, Mafatlal, Mittal and others as well as Ambani and Adani, whose interests are supreme.
We can certainly stop the installation of smart meters as long as we fight unitedly and strongly. We must do that! We must fight for rooting out the RDSS, opposing privatisation in any form, and with the perspective of preparing the workers, peasants and all the working and oppressed people to be rulers of our country!
After the main speakers many participants enthusiastically expressed their views and asked questions that were answered by the experts on the dais.
The following resolutions were proposed at the end of the meeting and unanimously passed.
“Today, the 7th July 2024, we the citizens of Mumbai who have gathered here declare that we do not accept the installation of smart electricity meters under any pretext. This scheme is anti-people and anti-workers and a step towards the further privatisation of electricity, and that is why we totally oppose it.”
“We also declare that electricity is a basic necessity and that is why it is the primary duty of the government to provide it to all citizens at affordable rates. We do not accept electricity to be looked upon as a source of profit.”