The major opposition parties -- DMK and Congress -- have strongly objected to the privatisation move of power transmission and distribution in Puducherry which is hitherto done by the Puducherry Electricity Department (PED) and have pledged their support to the striking employees, even as the government moves for a conciliatory meeting with the PED staff through the labour department.

The DMK has demanded that Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy come out with the government’s stance on privatisation of power transmission and distribution by declaring it publicly instead of maintaining silence.

Leader of Opposition R Siva in a statement said that power is in the Concurrent list and no action can be taken by the central government to privatise without the concurrence of the state government. The ruling government should realize that the privatisation of the power sector is related to the self-esteem and dignity of Puducherry, he said. “What are the benefits to the people of Puducherry and the state government due to the privatisation of the power sector? What are the disadvantages? A white paper should be released on this," he demanded.

The Puducherry government should not think that all the steps to privatise the power sector can be achieved quietly as the activities of the government are being watched closely, said Siva. Hence the Chief Minister should openly declare that the power sector will not be privatised or else an 'earthquake' will erupt among the people if he thinks privatisation can be achieved by remaining silent, claimed Siva. He added that the DMK will support employees and stop the privatisation of the power sector.

At the same time, Puducherry Lok Sabha member V Vaithilingam expressed strong objection to the privatisation of power. The PED has several crores worth of assets of power sector, but the government has estimated the assets at just Rs 500 crore, he said in a statement. The poor, the traders and the farmers will be severely affected by the power sector privatisation and it should remain in the government sector, he said. He urged the government to act as a government that can serve the people.

Meanwhile, the trade unions of political parties that include the left parties, VCK and Congress have constituted an electricity department anti privatisation joint action committee and organised a demonstration at Annai Salai on Saturday against the move. They have pledged their full support to employees of the PED.

After the Electricity Engineers & Employees Privatisation Protest Committee of PED announced a strike from February 1 against the move of the government to privatise power transmission and distribution, the government has now moved for a conciliation meeting through the labour department.  

The labour officer (conciliation) D Venkatessan on January 25 sent a notice  of enquiry/conciliation to the Privatisation Protest Committee (PPC) for participating in the conciliation proceedings under the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947, at his office on January 31, so as to bring about an amicable settlement of the dispute  following the announcement of the strike.

The officer has requested the PPC to attend with all relevant records and evidence -- oral and documentary. “Please note that if you fail to attend the proceedings without a reasonable cause being shown to me well in advance of the aforesaid date, the dispute will be disposed on merits. Both parties are advised to file its detailed representation/counter respectively at the time of conciliation,” stated the notice.

The PED has been declared a 'public utility service' under Section (2) of Industrial Disputes Act 1947 by the Lt Governor on January 6 for a period of six months from January 19 to July 18. The Secretary, Power, has warned the employees of stern action if they resorted to a strike.