A section of state-run power sector employees and engineers in Maharashtra have announced that they will go on a three-day strike from January 4 to protest against the privatisation of the state’s electricity distribution sector.
The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) said on January 3 that power sector employees from other states will also hold protest meetings on January 4 in all state capitals across the country urging Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to intervene. The strike may affect power supply in some parts of the state.
This comes amid reports that the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) is likely to grant permission to Adani Transmission Ltd for power distribution in Thane-Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Khargar, Taloja and Uran. These areas are currently fed by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd (MSEDCL).
Torrent power has also applied for parallel licences at Kalyan, Vasai, Pune, Nagpur, and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations and also a big chunk in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) near Pune. Tata Power has also requested the Maharashtra government that three districts Aurangabad, Jalna and Beed be handed over to them under the public-private partnership model.
To be sure, Mumbai already has multiple distribution companies (discoms) such as Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML), BEST and Tata Power, allowing consumers to choose the discom of their choice. Legally too, this provision exists in the Electricity Act 2003. The same has also been reiterated in the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022, which the Union government on August 8, 2022 referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy after members of several opposition parties opposed its introduction in the Lok Sabha on the grounds that it violated the federal principles of the Constitution.
“The MERC is going to give parallel licence to private companies when a state power distribution company, MSEDCL, is already supplying power. The federation believes that by maliciously invoking the draconian Section 14 of the Electricity Act 2003, the MERC may grant a parallel licence to Adani Group to amass profit by cherry-picking these areas,” said VK Gupta, spokesperson of AIPEF.
He said the move, if allowed, will adversely impact 2.8 crore consumers of the state, especially the consumer who are below the poverty line and have a consumption of maximum 100 units.
“It may be mentioned that electricity consumers of Mahavitaran, thousands of employees and engineers of Mahavitaran, trade unions and peoples representatives have expressed strong displeasure and opposed the central government’s privatisation policy. They have been holding mammoth protest rallies in Nagpur, Thane and other cities for the last fifteen days,” Gupta said.
The AIPEF said power sector employees are against crony capitalism and the privatisation policies of the government, and firmly stand behind electricity employees. “An unusual experiment of parallel licence to Adani and others by carving out high-paying consumer mix areas will have a devastatingly negative impact on MSEDCL,” the AIPEF said in a statement.
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