Statewide Power Strike Looms As MSEDCL, MSETCL, MahaGenco Employees Protest ‘Corporate Takeover’

Workers Federation Union members and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) employees protested jointly in front of the MahaVitaran building at SB road in Pune on Friday. In a show of defiance against what they call a "corporate takeover" of state power utility powers, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Maharashtra State Electricity Employees, Engineers, and Officers will rally over 1.5 lakhs permanent staff and contract laborers for a state-wide one-day strike on October 9. The action is the culmination of a carefully planned agitation calendar, spanning years of seething resentment against the Maharashtra government's alleged going back on commitments to safeguard the sector from privatisation.

'Threatening the very existence of our public utilities'

The JAC, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) unions, Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL) unions, and Maharashtra State Electricity Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) unions, in a September 27 press release, attributed the blame to the administration for propagating "one-sided privatisation" despite repeated appeals. Vivek Pawar Worker Federation Divisional Secretary, told The Free Press Journal, "Despite letters and meetings, the government continues to issue parallel licenses to private monopolies like Adani and Torrent, threatening the very existence of our public utilities." The committee has formally apprised the authorities and demanded a tripartite meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the earliest to avert the strike, he added.

The recent demonstration is reminiscent of a contentious chapter that goes back to 2022, when Adani Transmission Ltd. first applied for parallel licences for lucrative regions like Thane, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, and Bhandup—regions generating over Rs 1,350 crore in revenue per month for MSEDCL. Unions then threatened "unprecedented financial consequences," as stripping the profitable urban locales would leave state companies with unsustainable rural loads, threatening to drive up tariffs for farmers and low-income classes.

72-hour strike by 1.25 lakh workers

In January 2023, a 72-hour strike by 1.25 lakh workers forced then Energy Minister and Deputy CM Fadnavis to conduct emergency talks. He gave a guarantee of no privatisation and pledged Rs 50,000 crore in state aid to back the companies, and the strike was called off.

However, by July 2025, fresh applications by Adani (for 8 units) and Torrent (for 16, including Nagpur, Pune, and Thane) caused fresh agitation, prompting a nationwide solidarity strike on July 9 that mobilised 2.7 lakh power employees from all over India behind it. The JAC's grievances are not merely about granting a parallel license.

The unions are protesting the non-implementations of a workers' pension scheme, non-enforcement of reservations in promotions for backward classes, and prevalent contractualisation of work—issues revisited in a June 2025 report by Maharashtra Rajya Veej Tantrik Kamgar Sanghatna (MRVTKS), which criticised the outsourcing of substations to private enterprises.

'Privatisation is not just a threat to jobs'

"Privatisation is not just a threat to jobs; it's a cheat on consumers who rely on cheap, stable electricity," observed Shivaji Nechri, Central secretary of Technical Worker Federation Union Khamkar.

Shivaji Dongre, zonal secretary of the Workers Federation told FPJ, "The government promise of Rs 50,000 crore in 2023 sounds hollow as parallel licenses disturb our revenue base."

The protest happens in nine escalating phases, blending symbolic and disruptive tactics to increase pressure. The tensions escalated with a protest rally outside Mahavitaran zonal offices in Pune on Friday, where the contract labourers, like the Maharashtra State Power Contractual Employees' Association, marched in protest against the end of privatisation of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, to provide permanent status to 40,000 contractual labourers, filling up the posts and paying pensions to former staff.

'This is the 6th phase of our agitation'

The union requested that members join for door-to-door campaigning between October 4 and 7, with the intention of mobilising public support for their cause. Shivaji Dongre, Workers Federation Union Zonal secretary informed FPJ, "This is the 6th phase of our agitation and next phase we will hold sit-in protests at engineers' offices on October 6, shutting operations across generation, transmission, and distribution. The unions had cautioned about the cascading effects in urban centres such as Mumbai and Pune. On July 9 agitation, to reduce the disruptions caused due to strike, MSEDCL had introduced contingency plans, invoking backup teams and control rooms where power was mostly unbroken. With workers and employers waged public campaigns heating up, now the ball is in the government's hands, how they want to address the legitimate issues of their labor force.