All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Power Minister RK Singh requesting that all the states be directed to hold mass vaccination camps to cover electricity personnel on top priority basis and be treated as frontline workers. Shailendra Dubey, Chairman AIPEF said as many as 1,000 power sector employees and engineers have succumbed to COVID-19 and more than 15,000 have been infected from the virus.

In Maharashtra, a total of more than 7,100 power employees are COVID positive and about 210 have died. While, in Uttar Pradesh, more than 4,000 power sector employees are suffering from Coronavirus and there have been 140 casualties. "Amid a record surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, around 1,000 employees working in the power sector have died and more than 15,000 employees have tested positive for the virus," Dubey said in a statement.

In the list of casualties, there are at least three chief engineers (2 from UP and 1 from Haryana), and more than two dozen superintending engineers including nine from UP, it said. In Haryana, 20 employees have died and 900 employees are affected by a coronavirus. In Punjab, 700 employees are bedridden with COVID and there are about 20 casualties, it said. AIPEF has written to Modi and Singh requesting all the states be directed to hold mass vaccination camps to cover electricity personnel on top priority basis and be treated as front-line workers.

AIPEF has also urged all the chief Ministers to urgently direct the state health authorities to treat power sector employees as frontline workers and they should be given priority in vaccination. The Union Power Secretary in his letter to all the Chief Secretaries and Power Secretaries has acknowledged the role of electricity personnel in maintaining power supply and directing that every state should hold mass vaccination camps to cover the electricity personnel on top priority.