Power employees wear black badges, begin protest

The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board employees and engineers today started their protest against the “unscientific rationalisation process” by reporting for work wearing black badges across the state. Tomorrow, the board employees will hold a major protest in Hamirpur.

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Meanwhile, an HPSEBL spokesperson said that no posts were being abolished, only essential posts had been adjusted. “Uhal power project would become fully operational shortly, and the board would require employees. This project would provide financial stability to the board and a new division and additional posts would be created and the employees would be reassigned accordingly,” the spokesperson said.

Refusing to buy the argument, the employee leaders said the management was just indulging in wordplay. “Whether the posts are abolished, kept in abeyance or put in surplus pool, the impact on the employees is the same. It simply means that no new recruitment will be made against these posts and no one will be promoted to these posts. And that’s exactly what we are opposing,” said HL Verma, a leader of the power employee association.

Verma further said the strategy for future course of action would be discussed in the protest at Hamirpur tomorrow, where employees and pensioners are expected to gather in large numbers. The protesters will also demand restoration of OPS and other pending benefits of the employees and pensioners.