Power engineers boycott anti-theft drive in state
LUCKNOW: Annoyed with the government for taking no action against people who attacked them during checking drives, UP power engineers wore black bands on their foreheads and boycotted the anti-power theft drive on Saturday.
They threatened not to cooperate in future too if adequate security was not made available to the raid teams, and protection was not offered against being implicated in false cases.
The UP Rajya Vidyut Abhiyanta Sangh demanded that the government slap National Security Act (NSA) on those who attacked a team of engineers and damaged government property in Shahjahanpur on November 22. “The government should invoke NSA in all such cases that took place during the past year,” Abhiyanta Sangh general secretary, Rajiv Kumar Singh said. He said the government wanted engineers to act against thieves without getting proper security.
RURAL CAMPS
The UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) will soon organise special camps in rural areas to issue new electricity connections under the ‘Saubhagya Yojana’ that seeks to provide power to all by 2019.
UPPCL chairman, Alok Kumar issued instructions to discoms asking them to use such camps for the purpose of issuing and rectifying bills in villages. He told the MDs to fix weekly targets and review their achievements every week.
He said the Central government had developed a portal for the Saubhagya Yojana and the information of the camps, would be uploaded on the portal.
UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad president, Avadhesh Kumar Verma has, in the meantime, accused the UPPCL of pressuring the regulator to announce the power tariff immediately after the civic polls. “The corporation wants the issue of steep tariff hike to get lost in the poll noise,” he said. He demanded the regulator to exhaust the full time available to it to pronounce its verdict on the tariff proposal.