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Indian power workers strike against privatisation plan
 The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) employees and engineers will observe a one-day strike on October 8 against the scheduled transfer of power distribution system in the cities of Agra and Kanpur to Torrent Power, a private power company, member of the Rs. 45 billion Torrent Group.
As a prelude to the strike, the power workers will hold a 48-hour work boycott on October 6. They have warned that they will take immediate action if the power distribution was transferred before the strike.
UPPCL staff, under the banner of Power Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) – (of which PSI affiliate Vidyut Karmachari Morcha Sanghathan is a vital partner), alleged UPPCL was proceeding with the franchisee-based power distribution although there had been significant reductions in line losses of late. JAC spokesperson Shailendra Dubey said revenue generation in Kanpur during 2008-09 had
improved compared to 2007-08. In fact, the improvement in revenue is close to the rates quoted by Torrent Power in its bid. Sources said UPPCL engineers pointed out to the Torrent officials that the average tariff of Rs 2.87 quoted by Torrent for Agra would actually come to Rs 4 per unit for consumers.
Torrent was selected through competitive bidding in February 2009 and a formal agreement signed on May 18.
Although Torrent had promised perquisites over salary to power workers, JAC remains committed on its demand not to implement the franchisee power distribution model. Seven other cities are also under study, namely Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Aligarh and Meerut.
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