The Telangana Electricity Employees Joint Action Committee (TEEJAC) launched its 48-hour hunger strike at Vidyut Soudha here on Monday protesting against the alleged involvement of anti-social elements in tripping the sub-stations in Seemandhra region and failure of the government to prevent the same. They believe this would lead to collapse of the southern grid in Karnataka that supply power to the entire Southern India.
Alleging that the state government is hand in glove with the agitators by provoking political party workers to sneak into power stations to trip them, K Raghu, TEEJAC coordinator said, ‘’So far Kadapa 400 KV, Kurnool 400 KV and Nellore 400 KV sub- stations were tripped causing great inconvenience to the people. All these are handiwork of some anti-social elements to create panic among the public.”
He accused the government of failing to provide security to sub-stations. ‘’Only one constable was posted in front of each of these sub-stations in Seemandhra region. However, when Telangana employees participated in Sakala Janula Samme military personnel were paraded and cordoned off Kothagudem thermal power station,” he said.
In situations like these the state government has to seek National Thermal Power Corporation’s advice for remedial measures but the government has failed to do so, said Surya Prakash, a retired chief engineer. ‘’To generate power at hydro power stations five to six persons are enough. In these adverse situations the government could have done so to prevent the state from facing severe power cuts,” he opined.
Earlier, Seemandhra Vidyut Joint Action Committee addressed the media and said that the talks with the management have failed. The employees maintained that they would intensify their strike without any exemption even for emergency services.
‘’We will continue with our indefinite strike and bring everything to halt until the Centre reconsiders its decision to bifurcate the state,” its chairman Sai Baba said.