Puducherry Jan 31 PTI Engineers and staff of the Department of Electricity here on Monday said they would go on strike on Tuesday February 1 to protest against the move of the Central and the Puducherry governments to privatise the power sector A spokesperson of the association of the power sector staff told reporters today that privatisation would affect everyone mostly farmers We joined work as government staff and will retire as government employees We resist the move to privatise distribution of power the spokesperson said Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader V Narayanasamy had said the Chief Minister N Rangasamy should write to the Centre and oppose the privatisation plan Superintending engineer Shanmugham however asked people not to think that privatisation would lead to hike in tariff and that farmers would be deprived of the benefits they enjoy now Nothing of that sort will happen the official said A joint meeting of leaders of various political parties held under the leadership of PCC president A V Subramanian condemned the privatisation plan The parties that took part in the meeting were Congress DMK CPI CPI Marxist VCK and CPI Marxist-Leninist PTI COR NVG NVG

Puducherry Jan 20 PTI All the staff of the Electricity Department of the Puducherry government would launch an indefinite strike in the Union Territory from February 1 to protest against the move to privatise the power sector A spokesperson of the Engineers and Employees Association of the Electricity Department on Thursday said in a press release With the territorial government adhering to its stand to open up the distribution wing of power supply the power staff has decided to resort to indefinite strike on February 1 Though talks were convened by the higher officials of the Department of Electricity with delegates of the association today the staff saidWe are not convinced by the arguments of the government as it is very keen on privatisation Talks failed and the staff announced the strike said the spokesperson The spokesperson said there were over 1400 technical staff in the department We joined the service as government staff and will want to retire only as government staff Privatisation will be injurious to the staff the consumers and also the administration they said The strike would be held in all the four regions - Puducherry Karaikal Mahe and Yanam PTI COR NVG NVG

Puducherry Dec 23 PTI Employees of the Department of Electricity in Puducherry who formed Joint Action committee to protest the Centres move to privatise distribution of power staged a demonstration here on ThursdayThe protesters carrying banners took out a procession through main thoroughfares and held the demonstration at the Head Post office in the heart of the townA spokesman of the committee told PTI that the central government was making the move to open up distribution of electricity in the Union Territories including PuducherryThis would be a step in the wrong direction as the power consumers would bear the brunt and the staff would also face ordeals and hence the protest The panel had planned to submit a petition to the Lt Governor at the end of the procession but the participants were stopped at the post office by the policePuducherry does not have an Electricity Board and the distribution of power is being done here through the Department of Electricity Several political parties have expressed strong protest against the Centres decision to privatise power distributionThe Puducherry government purchases power from central power generating undertakings to meet the local requirementsA Power Corporation was started in Karaikal to generate power to meet the local needs PTI COR ROH ROH

Puducherry Nov 18 PTI The Puducherry government has declared a holiday for all government-run private and aided schools on Friday in view of the incessant rain Joint Director of Education V G Sivakami said in a press release on Thursday that in view of the rains battering Puducherry and Karaikal regions all schools would remain closed in the two regions on November 19 Meanwhile the Territorial Home and Education Minister A Namassivayam held discussions with the officials of the Department of Electricity and asked the officials to take immediate steps wherever and whenever power supply is disrupted and also set right overhead power lines that get snapped by rains and strong winds Puducherry recorded 151 cm rainfall till 7 PM on Thursday said a press release from the Department of Revenue PTI COR NVG NVG