UP electricity dept employees end strike after talks with govt

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh electricity department employees on Sunday ended their 72-hour strike after several rounds of talks between their leaders and state energy minister A K Sharma, saying the decision was taken to “respect the directions of the chief minister”.

The protesting employees, who had started their strike at 10 pm on March 16, announced to call it off at around 3 pm on Sunday. “A number of rounds of talks were held (with the government). We raised our problems and the (energy) minister agreed positively to fix them.

“Respecting the directions of the Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath), the positive dialogue with the energy minister, and respecting the high court, we have decided to call off our 72-hour symbolic protest one day in advance in view of massive public interest,” Shailendra Dubey, convener of Vidyut Karmacharis Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, said while announcing the withdrawal of the strike. UP energy minister Sharma said the government held several rounds of talks with the samiti.

“I thank the employees of the electricity department for calling off their protest...I would request them to direct their employee friends to resume their duties, especially at those places where power supply was disrupted, be it a feeder or a sub-station.