Uttar Pradesh power employees and engineers today threatened to proceed on strike if the state government fails to cancel the power distribution franchise in Kanpur, awarded to Torrent Power last year.
While the distribution franchisee in Agra had already been transferred to Torrent in April 2010, the same in Kanpur has not materialised so far.
The powermen under the banner of Power Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) have threatened a 48-hour strike by all generation, transmission and distribution staff on July 22 and 23, and later indefinite strike if the decision is not rolled back.
At present, state owned Kanpur Electricity Supply Company Limited (KESCO) under the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) distributes power.
JAC spokesperson Shailendra Dubey claimed the government was proceeding with the franchisee-based power distribution in Kanpur despite good showing by KESCO after the award of franchise to Torrent.
He said during 2008-09, KESCO was supplied 2,635 million units, while the revenue generated was Rs 596 crore, which came to about Rs 2.39 per unit. However in 2009-10, KESCO generated revenues of Rs 689 crore on 2,721 units, which was Rs 2.71 per unit.
“Therefore, KESCO improved its revenues by Rs 93 crore, which is an increase of 15.55 per cent, while the corresponding increase in power supply was only 3.4 per cent,” he added. Dubey said as per official figures, aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses came down to under 35 per cent in 2009-10 from about 38 per cent in 2008-09. AT&C losses include power theft and inefficiency in revenue collection.
Torrent was selected through bidding in February 2009 and a formal agreement signed on May 18 with UPPCL. Torrent had committed investment of Rs 200 crore Rs 500 crore in Agra and Kanpur respectively.
However, JAC has remained adamant on its demand of rollback of the franchisee power distribution model. Seven other cities are in pipeline for similar ventures — Bareilly,
Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Aligarh and Meerut.
