July 9 strike against discom privatisation in UP may affect power supply: AIPEF Chairman

New Delhi: Electricity supply in the country may get affected on July 9 as over 27 lakh power workers will go on a nationwide strike against the government's decision to privatise two distribution companies (discoms) in Uttar Pradesh.

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to privatise Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (PVVNL) and Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (DVVNL), which alone cover 42 of 75 districts of the state, Shailendra Dubey, Chairman of All India Power Engineers' Federation (AIPEF), said.

Dubey alleged that Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd and some big officials of the government are in collusion with selected private houses. They want to sell discom assets worth lakhs of crores to private houses at throwaway prices, Dubey alleged.

He said "The process is on to float the tender inviting bids from interested parties. We are against this, and over 27 power employees across states will hold a one-day strike in July against the privatisation of the two discoms. The strike may also affect power supply." It has also been decided to hold demonstrations on July 2 as warning before going on a strike.

Demonstrations will be held mainly in Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Nagpur, Raipur, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Vadodara, Rajkot, Guwahati, Shillong, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Ranchi, Srinagar, Jammu, Shimla, Dehradun, Patiala, Jaipur, Kota, Hisar, and Lucknow.