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National Convention of Power sector workers declare a bold action plan to oppose privatization!

Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee correspondent

In the National Convention of all unions and associations of employees and engineers of the power sector held in Nagpur on 23^rd February’25, more than 250 of their representatives from across India jointly declared their firm resolve to fight against the privatization of electricity. This Convention was organized at the initiative of the National Co-ordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), an umbrella body uniting the vast majority of power sector workers of India.

Various representatives of power sector unions from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala attended the meeting. Chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation, Shailendra Dubey, Secretary General P Ratnakar Rao, Mohan Sharma and Krushna Bhoyar of All India Federation of Electricity Employees, Prashant Chaudhary and Subhash Lamba of the Electricity Employees Federation of India, and Samar Sinha of All India Power Men’s Federation addressed the meeting. The representatives of Kamgar Ekta Committee, CITU, AITUC, AIUTUC, and SKM also participated in the deliberations.

It is very important to note that this Convention was organized against the backdrop of very aggressive actions of the Central government and various state governments. While addressing a gathering of big Indian and foreign capitalists at the ET Now Global Business Summit in New Delhi on 15 February, the Prime Minister himself announced that “Now we are also promoting the private sector in the power distribution sector, so that there is more efficiency in it.”

Chandigarh power utility has been privatised recently despite valiant and long drawn opposition by electricity workers and citizens. Similar attack of privatization has been unleashed by the Uttar Pradesh government. The Rajasthan government has also started the bidding process to privatise power generation and battery storage. In Telangana, the state government has planned to hand over the electricity distribution service of South Hyderabad circle to the private sector. Across India, many state governments have started taking aggressive steps to install prepaid smart meters as a major step towards privatisation of electricity distribution.

The convention of 23^rd February was a fitting response by workers to the moves towards privatisation of the entire power sector. Every speaker declared their organization’s resolve to mobilise public opinion against the privatization drive.

Shri Shailendra Dubey exposed the false propaganda about dues of public sector distribution companies and about their “inefficiencies”. He gave many examples of government largesse to various capitalist groups who were handed over tens of thousands of crores of public assets at throw away prices. He talked about the tremendous efforts being taken by Uttar Pradesh electricity workers, working round the clock for many weeks, to ensure uninterrupted power supply during the Maha Kumbh Mela.  He also highlighted various draconian measures being taken by the Uttar Pradesh government against power sector employees and others, despite which workers have been fighting for the last 88 days (see Box 1). He declared that workers are not slaves but the rightful Maliks of national resources, along with all the people. He highlighted the new tactic of the Central government to hold regional meetings with certain state governments and forming a Group of Ministers to carry forth its plan (see Box 2).

Com. Mohan Sharma and many other speakers highlighted efforts by their organizations to mobilise contract and temporary employees as a necessary component of struggle against privatisation. He pointed out that in Maharashtra alone more than 60,000 power sector employees, including tens of thousands of contract workers, will be thrown out as a result of the introduction of prepaid smart meters and privatization of distribution.

Many other speakers highlighted that the main purpose behind prepaid smart meters is to make the power distribution risk free for private companies. They also highlighted the extreme ill effects of privatization of electricity distribution on electricity consumer. They called upon all the working people to vehemently oppose the privatization moves. They urged workers not to succumb to the divisive tactics being used by various governments. Some of them also explained that power sector privatization is part of the plan of the Indian big capitalists, who want to get hold of public sector enterprises and mint huge profits at the expense of the working people.

The representative of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha highlighted the fact that “no to privatization of electricity” was one of the main demands of the Kisan Andolan. He highlighted the fact that various kisan unions are joining hands with power sector workers against privatization.

The representative of Kamgar Ekta Committee congratulated power sector workers and the NCCOEEE for building unity of all power sector workers, from Class 4 workers to engineers. He also congratulated them for forcefully reiterating that the Electricity Power infrastructure has been built by people’s money and the sweat and blood of workers and hence they are the rightful Maliks. Governments are just the custodians of this public property and have no right to sell it off under any pretext. He further explained that it is not this or that political party which rules our country but the capitalist class headed by the biggest capitalists of our country who are the real rulers. Hence all such anti-people policies can be permanently stopped only when working people of our country take political power in their hands, he emphasised.

While the ruling capitalist class tries to divide working people on the basis of religion, caste, language, region etc., we the working people should clarify to the entire society that in reality there is only one divide. On one side is the parasitic capitalist class numbering less than 1% of the population who do not produce anything but just exploit and plunder the labour of others. On the other side are the working people who produce all the wealth of the country. This clear understanding is the key to fight all the false propaganda about privatization, he said. He explained that whenever their cadres have approached working people and told them the truth about the anti-people, anti-national, anti-social nature of privatization, working people have wholeheartedly supported us.

The meeting ended with the unanimous acceptance of the Draft Declaration released by the NCCOEEE. The declaration explains in detail the history and status of the power sector. It also announces an action plan of mass propaganda across the country amongst working people, culminating with a Sectoral Strike call across the country on 26^th June 2025.

BOX 1 : UP power sector workers’ struggle completed 88 days on 23rd February Uttar Pradesh state government has declared that it will be privatising Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd. (PVVNL) and Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd. (DVVNL). Heavy investment has been made by the government in these two DISCOMS in the last few years thus bringing down the Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses of these utilities. These utilities are yet to collect Rs.66,000 crore as pending bills which will be added to a private kitty if these are handed over. According to news reports, the proposed reserve bid price is just about the paltry sum of Rs.1500 crore whereas the value of the assets is many many times more. It will jeopardise the service of 27,000 employees and engineers and 50,000 contract workers. To discourage the power sector workers and other working people from launching the agitation, the UP government has promulgated draconian Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). Even if workers carry on their agitation after working hours, such agitations are videographed and those participating are threatened. Thousands of contract workers who participated in such actions were summarily dismissed from service. But the permanent workers of the power sector refused to work unless all the contract workers are reinstated, and government was forced to back down. Leaders and active workers are being targeted and attacked. However, one such engineer who was dismissed from service for 18 months before being reinstated, boldly declared from the national convention platform that neither he nor other power sector workers of Uttar Pradesh are going to back down from their just struggle and that their unity with other working people of country will defeat such attacks.

BOX 2 : New tactic to weaken the opposition to privatisation of electricity The Central Government has been trying to bring in the Electricity Amendment Bill since 2014, with an objective of paving the way for speedy privatization of the power sector. However, due to strong opposition from workers, farmers and other people, the Central government has repeatedly failed in this endeavour. Hence the government has changed its approach. Instead of centrally pushing the privatisation through a new Bill, it is now being carried out through state governments and piece by piece. It is with this aim that on 20th February a special regional meeting on the power sector was convened by the Central government. Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh were represented in this meeting. As per the press release of the Ministry of Power “the states have urged centre for support in privatization of distribution……”. It is thus being made out that the state governments themselves are requesting the Centre’s help! The Union government feels that this will break the unity of power sector employees of all the states and union territories of our country and weaken the opposition to privatisation.