Mumbai: Nearly 30,000 employees of three
Maharashtra Government-run power utilities on Tuesday went on a
flash strike, protesting against a proposal to bring in an
electricity distribution franchise in Aurangabad and Nagpur
circles of the state.
Maharashtra State Power Generation Co Ltd (Mahagenco),
Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co Ltd
(MahaTransco) and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution
Co Ltd (MahaDiscom) put together have about one-lakh
employees.
A spokesperson for MahaDiscom said about 25,000 to 30,000
employees of the three utilities have struck work today.
However, operations have not been impacted, he said.
"They (employees) are on a one-day strike today. This is
in protest against the franchise proposal for overall
maintenance and distribution of electricity in Aurangabad and
Nagpur circles. However, operations across the state continue
to function smoothly," the spokesperson said.
"They are against the franchise because a private company
will conduct interviews and select some candidates on merit.
There will not be job losses but the rest will have to
relocate," the spokesperson said.
Mahadiscom has invited bids for overall distribution
activities in Aurangabad and Nagpur in an attempt to cut down
transmission & distribution (T&D) losses, which currently
stand at over 40 per cent.
MahaDiscom had awarded a similar project to Gujarat's
Torrent Power in 2007 for distribution to 1.6-lakh customers
in the Bhiwandi circle, which had incurred losses as high as
44 per cent and collection efficiency only 68 per cent.
Following implementation of the project, losses have come
down to less than 20 per cent and collection efficiency
improved to over 100 per cent, earning a profit every month
for the distribution company.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 18:23