CHANDIGARH:All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has demanded that the tender notice for privatisation of Chandigarh electricity wing should be withdrawn
as the system is already operating efficiently and is in profit to render
optimum consumer service.
Padamjit Singh Chief Patron AIPEF in a letter to the administrator of UT Chandigarh has said that the privatisation of an essential service just to give additional profits to corporates is not in the public interest and thus not unacceptable.
As per the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC )
tariff order for the year 2020-21 the department has earned a profit of 155.42 crores in 2019-20 and this year it is expected to be Rs. 84.12 crores.
V K Gupta spokesperson AIPEF said that in the draft electricity (amendment) bill 2020 there was no proposal to privatise electricity distribution of union territories but on 5th June the Finance Minister suddenly made an announcement
regarding privatising electricity in all the UTs of the country.
There is no justification for privatisation in the case of UT Chandigarh
since it has low losses, low tariff, and good consumer service
while if privatising is adopted there will be a certain hike in
tariff, consumer discontent, and the burden on the exchequer.
There has been widespread comment that the GOI is adopting
privatisation policy only to give a huge financial benefit to corporates and big business houses
The letter mentions that UT Chandigarh's electricity business is clearly running at a persisting profit and there is no justification to privatise. Privatising will, on one hand, put huge profits in the pockets of the corporate party while causing tariff shock of higher electricity rates on consumers.
The worst affected would be the electricity workers. The in-service employees
will become victims of central government pro-corporate policies.
In the case of Delhi/DESU privatisation the private companies flatly refused to accept the pension liability of staff which caused endless hardship and suffering