Unions set to corner govt
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, December 12
Various associations of Haryana power corporations’ employees and engineers are all set to corner the state government over its recent decision to privatise electricity distribution in Gurgaon and Panipat circles.

Three associations of state power workers and engineers, including the HSEB Workers Union (headquartered at Bhiwani), the All-Haryana Power Corporations Employees Union (headquartered at Hisar) and the Haryana Power Engineers Association (HPEA), have now joined hands to oppose the said move of the state government.

At a meeting held here today, top office-bearers and other representatives of the three aforesaid unions formed a joint action committee to launch a united struggle against the privatisation of power distribution.

Talking to The Tribune after the meeting, Daljeet Singh, vice-president of the HPEA, asserted that the main demand of the committee was to withdraw the decision.

“Instead of privatising power distribution, the state government should recruit more personnel for power corporations, which have been facing an acute shortage of staff,” he maintained.

Daljeet Singh pointed out that the government’s decision was all the more illogical as the Gurgaon and Panipat circles, which were the highest revenue-earning circles of the DHBVN and the UHBVN, respectively, had been chosen for it.

While the Gurgaon circle earns a revenue of nearly Rs 130 crore per month, the Panipat circle earns Rs 30 crore per month, he said, adding that both the circles also had the minimum losses.

He revealed that a state-level convention of the newly formed joint action committee would be held in Rohtak on December 27 to chalk out the further course of action.