Lucknow: Members of the Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti Uttar Pradesh will don black armbands on Tuesday to protest against attempts to privatise discoms in the state.
The engineers' body has urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and energy minister Arvind Kumar Sharma not to allow privatisation of discoms.
UPPCL has reportedly formulated a proposal to privatise the ostensibly loss-making Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (DVVNL) and Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PUVVNL).
On Sunday, the Samiti, along with other labour unions said that privatisation of power would have far-reaching adverse consequences for all sections of society. They emphasized that privatisation initiatives in Agra and Greater Noida had faltered, inflicting considerable hardships on underprivileged consumers and farmers. They said that private enterprises focused on profitability, prioritizing industrial and commercial consumers, thereby affecting farmers and ordinary consumers.
They argued that implementing privatisation framework across 42 districts of the state would be against public interest and electricity tariffs might surge substantially post-privatisation.
"In cities like Mumbai, where two major private companies operate, electricity rates for domestic consumers are Rs 17-18 per unit, juxtaposed with a maximum of Rs 6.50 per unit for domestic consumers in Uttar Pradesh," the Samiti said.