Maharashtra news: Employees of Maharashtra power companies on Wednesday decided to call off their three-day strike after a meeting with state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
According to sources, the decision to call off the strike was taken after Fadnavis assured that power companies would not be privatised, on the contrary, the government would invest Rs 50,000 crore in power companies. He also claimed that other problems of the electricity department employees would also be resolved soon.
Earlier today (January 4), thousands of employees of three state-owned power companies went on a 72-hour strike to mark their protest against the privatization of power companies, even as the government invoked the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA). ) implemented.
strike started at midnight
Speaking to the media, Krishna Bhoir, general secretary of the Maharashtra State Electricity Workers’ Federation, said thousands of employees of the three companies participated in the strike that began at midnight.
Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MahaVitaran), Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MahaPareshan) and Maharashtra State Electricity Generation Company Limited (MahaNirmiti) are state-owned power companies.
reason behind protest
The Maharashtra State Employees, Officers and Abhiyaan Sangharsh Samiti, a working committee of 31 unions of power companies, launched the agitation last month to press for their various demands. Their main demand is not to issue a ‘parallel distribution license’ to the power subsidiary of the Adani Group.
In November 2022, an Adani group company sought a license to expand its power distribution business to more areas in Mumbai.
Adani Electricity Navi Mumbai Limited, a subsidiary of Adani Transmission, has applied to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for a parallel license to distribute electricity under the jurisdiction of Mahavitaran in Bhandup, Mulund, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Taloja and Uran Was. regions.
However, on Tuesday, January 3, the Maharashtra government invoked MESMA following a strike call by employees of power companies to maintain law and order in the state and protect public property.
(With inputs from PTI)
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