UP: 1,332 striking contract workers of electricity dept dismissed; rest warned to return to work by 6 pm today

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government's electricity department has fired 1,332 contractual workers amid the strike by the employees. On Saturday the power minister AK Sharma ordered the termination of rest of the contract workers if they do not return to work by 6 pm on Saturday. 

The Minister said, outsourcing companies have been asked to appoint new people from tomorrow in place of the sacked workers. He said that an FIR is being lodged against 22 leaders of 'Vidyut Karmachari Sangharsh Samiti' and action will be taken against them under ESMA. He said that some of them are being suspended.

According to Dynamite News correspondent, the electricity workers of Uttar Pradesh are on a three-day strike from 10 pm on Thursday over the selection of the chairman and managing director in power companies and some other issues.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Sharma said, "Today, it has been decided to initiate FIR against 22 employees of the department under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). Some of these people have also been suspended. Apart from this, instructions have been given to register an FIR against those who damage government property and obstruct government work. Till now FIR has been registered against 29 such people."

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Sharma said, “The services of 1,332 contract workers have been terminated in the last 24 hours. I request all the workers working on contract to report for their duty within four hours, by 6 pm, failing which they will be terminated tonight itself.

He said that the outsourcing companies have been asked to take the list of children who have passed the examination from ITI, polytechnic and engineering institutes and recruit them as apprentices from tomorrow in place of the dismissed workers.

When asked about the number of people working on contract in the department, Shailendra Dubey, convenor of Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, said that the number of such workers in the state is about 70 thousand.

Dubey claimed, “The Obra Thermal Power Station has stopped. All the five units of Obra Thermal Power Station of 200 MW capacity have been shut down. The production there is zero."

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He claimed that the power supply strike in some parts of the state has been severely affected due to the strike by the electricity workers.

The Minister said that continuous efforts are being made to hold talks with the striking workers of the Electricity Department. The doors of dialogue are open.

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• #Electricity dept
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• #AK Sharma
• #Power Minister