UP: Power Engineers, Employees Call Off Indefinite Strike for 15 Days After 'Written Assurance'

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh power employees and engineers who had been staging an indefinite sit-in protest in Lucknow for the past two weeks against the pay anomalies and 'dictatorial attitude of Power Corporation' called off their protest on Sunday for 15 days after their leaders signed an agreement with power minister Arvind Kumar Sharma and advisor to CM, Awanish Awasthi.

The initiative to end the agitation intensified on the fifth day after the Allahabad High Court summoned Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Power) Mahesh Gupta and raised questions about why action was not taken, and issues were not sorted out before a ‘strike’ by employees of the power utilities in Uttar Pradesh.

Agreement Letter

Shailendra Dubey, the coordinator of engineers' umbrella body Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti Uttar Pradesh (VKSSUP), said the minister agreed that the process of selection of new UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) chairman and managing directors would be completed soon by a selection committee, led by a chief secretary-level officer.

Further, as per the agreement, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited staff would be given three promotions after 9, 14 and 19 years of service. There should be no outsourcing for the operation and maintenance of 220 kV, 400 kV and 765 kV power substations and transformer workshops.

The agreement further states that the Power Sector Employees Protection Act would be implemented at the earliest, and facilities for cashless treatment of power staff in government medical institutions would start at the earliest. Arrangements for cashless treatment in private hospitals have to be implemented through bilateral talks.

The agreement states that all allowances in power corporations would be revised through bilateral talks, and the pending production incentive allowance will be paid in thermal powerhouses. "There will be no change in the system of subsidised electricity which is being provided to power staff and pensioners," it says.

It further says that wage discrepancies of all categories of power staff would be resolved through bilateral talks in three months. The agreement further says that all FIRs lodged against power staff since 2020 due to protests would be withdrawn, and suspension and termination orders would be revoked. Besides, all penal action taken against engineers during the current strike would be revoked.

Earlier, the demand put forth by power corporation employees to call off the strike included -- regularisation of services of daily wage workers, restoration of the old pension scheme, and improved working conditions, among others.

Apart from Lucknow, power employees were protesting across the state, including Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Agra, Bareilly and Prayagraj.

"We called off our sit-in protest after the union leader informed us that a meeting between the employees' union leader and government officials was positive and also written assurance was given by the higher authority to resolve within 15 days. We will wait till the last week of December, and if UPPCL management can deliver the demands, we will launch an aggressive protest in the new year," Sanjeev Singh, an employee in Varanasi, told NewsClick.