DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH The Electricity employees of Chandigarh under the banner of UT Powermen Union today observed a complete strike against the privatization of well running and profit earning Electricity Department of Chandigarh. A massive rally of employees was held in Sector 17 which was addressed by employees' leaders besides the leaders of other organizations. The rally passed a resolution that if the bidding process was not stopped the employees would resort to an indefinite strike involving all the sections of the society. The date of the indefinite strike will be announced subsequently. Gopal Datt Joshi, General Secretary of the union, strongly criticized the privatization policy of the central government which is using pandemic conditions to privatize the electricity department. He demanded that the bidding process should be scrapped. He further said that the Department is generating profit for the last 5 years, last year the department earned a profit of Rs 258 crore and this year it is Rs 117 crore. The line loss is much below the limit suggested by the central government Dhian Singh, President of the Union, said that even with an acute shortage of men and materials the department is providing 24x7 uninterrupted power supply to its consumers. The speakers further alleged that the security amount of Rs 157 crore is being handed over to private operators. The GPF of employees is being transferred to a private trust besides other financial losses. (editor@dailyworld.in)