Privatisation of power distribution in Puducherry | JAC to hold dharna on October 13

The JAC strongly condemns the hasty manner in which the Puducherry Government has come with a tender notification calling for bids for privatisation of the Electricity department.

The Joint Action Committee of the Puducherry Electricity Department will hold a dharna near Anna statue on October 13 protesting against the Centre and Puducherry Government’s decision to privatise power distribution in the Union Territory.

The JAC strongly condemned the “hasty manner” in which the Puducherry Government issued a tender notification calling for bids for privatisation of the Electricity department. Charging that the territorial government had become a pawn in the hands of the Centre, the JAC said the territorial government was going ahead with its decision without any proper reason or explanation, M. Premadasan, coordinator of JAC said.

Stating that privatisation was injurious, Mr. Premadasan urged the Puducherry Government to go into the whole issue objectively and not act in haste.

“The department has been operating effectively for decades and there is no need to privatise the distribution of power. In fact, the power losses in Puducherry were only 11.5% which was less than the 15 % norm set by the Central Government,” he said.

He said that the Central Government issued the draft standard bidding document for privatisation in September 2020. “The question arises on what basis the entire electricity department is being privatised without even finalising the standard bidding document,” he said.

According to him, the Puducherry government should have come out with proper explanation but instead it has accepted the Centre’s plan “to barter away the power distribution to a private player.” To condemn the “autocratic decision”of the Centre and the Puducherry Government, the JAC would hold a dharna near Anna statue on October 13.

JAC also demanded the proposal of privatisation of Puducherry electricity department be cancelled and the RFP documents issued for privatisation be withdrawn immediately.