Lucknow, Feb. 4 -- Power employees across Uttar Pradesh continued statewide protests against the proposed privatisation, alleging mass removal of contract workers to clear the way for private companies.

"Over 1,200 contract workers have already been terminated, many not even meeting the official 55-year age criteria. The move could eventually put 20,000 jobs at risk," Uttar Pradesh Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti convenor Shailendra Dubey said.

Samiti leaders called the terminations inhuman, arguing that many affected workers had served for years on meager wages, some even becoming disabled in service. They warned that after contract workers, permanent employees might also face retrenchment under pressure from private firms....