‘YSRCP govt. turned blind eye to SDSTPS workers’ protest’

JAC to launch a ‘do-or-die’ battle against the thermal power station’s privatisation

Contract workers on Monday threatened to intensify their agitation to exert pressure on the YSR Congress Party government not to privatise the Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station (SDSTPS) at Nelaturu in SPSR Nellore district.

As the ‘Save SDSTPS, save APGENCO’ protest entered the 200th day, members of the Andhra Pradesh State Power Employees’ Joint Action Committee vowed to launch a “do-or-die battle” against handing over the ultra thermal power plant near the Krishnapatnam port to a prominent private player who ruled the roost in the power sector across the country.

It was unfortunate that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government turned a blind eye to the protracted struggle by the workers, they said.

Expressing solidarity with the agitators, TDP Polit Bureau member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy alleged that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government was implementing the “economic agenda” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a view to curry favours with a particular private player.

It was unfortunate that the YSRCP government had not called the union leaders for talks, he said, adding that the power plant was the first of its kind in these parts as it had facilities to bring imported coal through conveyor belts directly from ships and developed on more than 1,100 acres acquired from farmers who were promised jobs as part of the rehabilitation and resettlement package.

The subsidised power, being enjoyed by farmers and other weaker sections of people in the State, would have to be scrapped in the wake of the privatisation spree of the government, he feared, adding that the party would vehemently oppose the government’s power generation policy. He observed that though the contract workers were not allowed to erect tents, they were continuing their stir.