TIMES NEWS NETWORKMangaluru: Office bearers of the Power Employees Union submitted a memorandum to Mangaluru City South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath, demanding the cancellation of Tata Power’s application for a parallel electricity supplylicence within the Mescom region, and to prevent the privatisation of the power sector.Union members stated that Tata Power has applied for a parallel electricity distribution license in municipal corporations and city councils across Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Shivamogga districts under theMescom jurisdiction. The company is focusing its operations on urban centres, targeting only industrial and commercial consumers. The union told the MLA that this would not only cause hardship in rural areas, to the poor, the middle class and farmers, but also lead to an increase in electricity tariffs. They further stated that it is an injustice to taxpayers for private companies to operate by utilising the massive Mescom power grid, which has been built over hundreds of years using citizen taxes, electricity bills, and govt grants.Upon receiving the memorandum, MLA Kamath said that since the Congress govt came to power in the state, they have not allowed anyone in any sector to live peacefully. He alleged that the govt is now eager to hand over the state’s power sector, including Mescom, to private control in the name of privatisation.He noted that this would result in injustice to the public and threaten the job security of employees in power companies. Consequently, he has urged the chief minister, the energy minister, and the chairman of the KarnatakaElectricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), through a letter, to take measures to cancel this private application under Section 108 of the Electricity Act and to not proceed with privatisation under any circumstances.
