Power supply threatened as SNDL vendors strike again

NAGPUR: City's power system is at a risk again with the vendors and contractors of power franchisee SNDL going on strike from 1 pm on Wednesday. The vendors had gone on strike on March 30 for some hours before assurances by SNDL and Essel Utilities made them defer the strike by ten days.
The 32 vendors or their representatives met in the afternoon and unanimously decided to stop work to protest non-payment of Rs 11.28 crore dues.Essel, which is the majority share holder in SNDL, says that Spanco- the earlier owner - should pay. Spanco, however, has refused to entertain the vendors.
Strangely, Essel, which repeatedly asks vendors to seek payment from Spanco, has not been able to produce a single document that proves the latter has to pay the money. Spanco officials have told TOI that their company does not have any more liabilities in franchisee operations. Many contractors suspect they are being taken for a ride and this possibility was hotly discussed in the meeting.
Addressing a press conference, the vendors said that all the works- billing, operations, maintenance, meter reading, etc.- had been stopped. Javed Akhtar, one of the vendors, said, "Many contractors do not have the money to continue work. If Essel thinks they can arm-twist us by terminating our contract then they are mistaken. Nobody wants to work for them once they get their money."
Vendors Mahendra and Narendra Jichkar charged Essel director Ashok Agrawal with defrauding them. "He told us in October that Essel would clear the dues in 45 days of taking over. However, now they are asking us to seek the money from Spanco. We worked for SNDL and not for Spanco. When Essel took over SNDL all the liabilities were automatically transferred to it," they said. The vendors also slammed MSEDCL for washing its hands of the issue.