Govt agrees to talks, power employees suspend Aug 7 stir

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board employees, engineers, pensioners and outsourced workers has decided to suspend its protest scheduled for August 7 after the state government agreed to hold talks with the committee. The decision was taken in an emergency meeting of the committee held today.

JAC co-convener HL Verma said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had invited them for a meeting on August 12 to discuss the ongoing issues between the management and employees.

The electricity board employees and engineers have been holding protests at various places across the state for a while how. The situation escalated when the management imposed restrictions on peaceful protests inside the office premises and issued charge sheets to two employee leaders for issuing press statements against the HPSEBL and the government. In response, the JAC decided to hold a protest on August 7 if the charge sheets against the two officials were not withdrawn.

Welcoming the government’s initiative, Verma said JAC expected a positive outcome from the meeting and resolution of the long-standing demands of electricity employees and engineers.