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Arrests fail to deter striking power workers in UP

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The government's crackdown on the striking power workers of Uttar Pradesh has failed to force them to return to work. And even as nearly 2,000 workers were arrested in different parts of the state, the government decided to extend the ultimatum for their getting back to work up to the morning of January 19.

The state's Energy Minister Naresh Agarwal gave the striking workers a veiled threat to return to work or let their families face the wrath of the harried consumers, hundreds of thousands of whom have been doing without power for the past 48 hours or more. "I appeal to the public to tackle the striking employees only in the Gandhian manner," he wryly said at a press conference in Lucknow yesterday, while hastening to add, "we are also making necessary arrangements for the security and safety of their families."

When a journalist sought an elaboration on the threat perception to the families of the striking employees, the minister simply quipped, "Well, I have conveyed what I wanted to; you are free to draw your own inferences."

He further warned, "A list of 60 engineers --- from the rank of assistant engineer to superintending engineer -- has been prepared for termination from service, and that would be announced tomorrow."

Plans are also afoot to make fresh recruitment with effect from the morning of January 19 -- the deadline for the workers to return. "Those who fail to turn up by that time would automatically lose their jobs," Agarwal declared.

He admitted that the state's generation, transmission and distribution of power had been seriously affected. "After all, it is such a big strike," he admitted, but he also reiterated his claim about maintaining uninterrupted power supply in most parts of the state.

His claims were, however, belied by reports pouring in from UP's 83 districts about continued or frequent disruptions in the power supply.

The situation was particularly grim in the smaller towns and the rural areas where there had been no power for the past several days, as the workers had struck work well before their deadline of January 15.

Even in the state capital, Lucknow, several areas have gone without power over the past two to three days. Irate mobs were reported to have resorted to dharna and sit-ins as a mark of protest against the absence of power. The lack of power had consequently affected the water supply too in many areas.

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