Discom Privatization : Engineers, Employees of Pondy Electricity Dept boycott govt meeting

Puducherry, Dec 9 (FN Agency) The Engineers and Employees of the Puducherry Electricity Department on Thursday boycotted the meeting convened by the government to discuss the pros and cons with regard to privatization of Electricity Distribution Company (Discom) in the Union Territory by the Central Government. It may be noted that the Union government had taken a decision to privatize the Electricity Distribution Company and the then Congress-DMK government prevented it.

With the N R Congress-BJP government coming to power in May this year, the issue was again taken up and the employees were invited for a discussion today and tomorrow to discuss the pros and cons of privatization. However, the employees struck work from Wednesday itself on the issue and held a dharna in front of the Electricity Department Head office and decided not to take part in the meeting today. Accordingly, all the 15 unions boycotted the meeting under Electricity Secretary Vikranth Raja and they continued the dharna in front of the head office. Meanwhile, the Tamizhar Kalam on Thursday demanded that political parties, social organizations and public be invited for the meeting.