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India's power strike enters seventh day

LUCKNOW: A power strike in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh entered its seventh day on Friday with talks between the government and union leaders to resolve the crisis failing to make any headway.

If the stalemate continued, still more workers were likely to go on strike, union leaders said. But government officials said some of those who had been striking were back at work.

The leaders and the state government were deep in discussions till late Thursday seeking an end to the strike, which is protesting plans to convert the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board (SEB) into a company, breaking it into three entities for generation, transmission and distribution.

"If the government refuses to rescind the notification restructuring the SEB, 83,000 power engineers across the country will observe a day's token strike from the midnight of January 23," he told Reuters.

The Northern India Power Engineers Federation had earlier said its members in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh would also go strike from January 21.

Millions have been without power in India's most populous state since nearly 87,000 workers began their protest.

Government officials said on Thursday that about 10,000 workers had gone back to work. Union leaders, however, were standing firm and saying the action could widen.

Dubey said the All India Power Engineers Federation had served a formal notice for a nationwide strike to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Federal Power Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam.

The stoppage has also spilled over into neighbouring Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan states. But electricity supplies in these states have not been affected.-Reuters