On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh's Energy Minister A K Sharma issued a stern warning to electricity department employees on strike, directing them to join their duties by 6 pm, or face dismissal.
Electricity department employees in Uttar Pradesh have been on a strike for the past two days, affecting normal life across various parts of the state. People in several parts of the state have been without electricity for more than 48 hours, or even up to 3 days, and many of them have taken to Twitter to raise complaints regarding the same.
The employees are protesting over unfulfilled demands relating to the selection of chairman and managing director in power companies, “pay anomalies”, outsourcing of operation and maintenance of power sub-stations. They alleged that some of their demands, agreed to by the state government in December last year, have not been fulfilled by power corporations even after three months.
According to reports, the strike is being held in Prayagraj, Muzaffarnagar, Farukhhabad, Varanasi, Firozabad, Rae Bareilly and Etah, among other parts of the state.
“Power cut again from 6 pm today [Saturday]. No power till now. Varanasi or the whole UP needs serious works and management needs to be efficient,” a resident tweeted, tagging government officials.
UP govt invokes ESMA
On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh's Energy Minister A K Sharma issued a stern warning to electricity department employees on strike, directing them to join their duties by 6 pm, or face dismissal.
"A decision has been taken to initiate action against 22 people from the department under the ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act). Apart from this, instructions have also been issued to lodge FIR against those damaging the government property and obstructing others from discharging their duties. FIR has been registered against 29 people in this matter," he said.
Sharma said that efforts are on to have a dialogue with the protesting employees. The protesters, however, have sought Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's intervention to end the "atmosphere of confrontation".
Employees terminated
According to a report by The Wire, nearly 1 lakh employees are on strike under the banner of Vidyut Karamcharis Sanyukt Sangharsh, a union of electricity department employees.
Local administrations have started lodging cases against any employees of the electricity department found absent from duty without authorisation.
"Services of 1,332 contractual employees have been terminated. I once again request all contractual employees to resume their duties by 6 pm, else they will be dismissed from service tonight," the minister said.
According to Shailendra Dubey, the convenor of Vidyut Karmacharis Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, there are 70,000 contractual employees in the electricity department. “Registering FIR is an oppressive step,” he said.
"The Obra Thermal Power Plant has come to a standstill. All five units have shut down. The (electricity) production of Obra is zero," he claimed, adding that the protest has led to a massive disruption in electricity supply in some parts of the state.
Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court began contempt proceedings against the union leaders behind the ongoing protest and issued a warrant asking them to appear before it on Monday.
(With PTI inputs)