Revoke power amendment Bill, demand HPSEB staff

Our Correspondent

Nurpur, September 7

The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) Employees’ Union has strongly opposed the proposed Electricity Amendment Bill presented in Parliament in December last year by the Government of India.

Pawan Mohal, state vice-president of the union, has demanded the revocation of the Bill. He said here today that if the Bill was approved in Parliament it would split power supply companies into smaller groups which would benefit only private power suppliers at the cost of consumers across the country.

Mohal lamented that the Centre’s ongoing liberalisation and privatisation policies were against employees and workers. The employees’ leader also expressed anguish over the drastic reduction in the number of employees from 43,000 to 18,000 in HPSEBL.

He demanded that the recruitment process to fill vacant posts in the board be expedited and work order employees of HPSEBL be converted into contract ones.

He appealed to the management to grant amended grade pay on the pattern of the Punjab Power Corporation to the board employees in the state.