Powercom working hit as employees go on mass leave

Routine functioning at various offices of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited was paralysed as office-bearers and activists of various employee outfits proceeded on mass leave for three days on Tuesday.

Senior functionaries of the corporation remained on heels to emergency repairs done by outsourced employees.

Activists of the Punjab Powercom Pensioners’ Association, who have been organising dharnas at the division-level for ten days, also supported demands of the working employees of the corporation. The Pensioners Association has threatened to organise a state-level rally at headquarters in Patiala on September 25.

Speakers, including office-bearers of the PSEB Joint Forum, ‘Mulazim Ekta Manch’, the Technical Services Union, the PSEB Employees Federation, and the Junior Engineers Association, threatened the state government that they would intensify the stir if their long-pending demands were not accepted.

Implementation of reviewed recommendations of the sixth pay commission in letter and spirit, ban on contractor systems, dissolution of power pacts with private power manufacturers, payment of arrears, regularisation of contractual employees and concessional power for new retirees, besides Rs 1 crore compensation for all categories of employees dying in mishaps, were the major demands of the employees.

Activists led by TSU President Ashu Bains alleged that similar to the previous regimes, the current state government led by the Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann, had failed to pay heed to the interests of the employees and consumers of the corporation.

He accused the state government and PSPCL management of being indifferent to the genuine demands of the common people. He alleged that employees working on the frontline had been the worst sufferers, as they have to work without safety guards in an adverse environment and face the heat of anguish shown by all consumers.

Services hit at Sangrur

On the call of the PSPCL Employees Joint Forum and ‘Bijli Mulazam Ekta Manch’, a large number of employees of the Sangrur Circle of the PSPCL observed a strike by taking mass casual leave. The employees also held rallies at Sangrur, Sunam, Dirba and Lehra and raised slogans against the state government.

Speaking to The Tribune, the state secretary of the PSPCL Employees Joint Forum, Harpal Singh, claimed that due to the strike, about 90 per cent of employees in the Sangrur Circle, comprising Sangrur, Sunam, Lehra, Dirba, Patran and Dhuri divisions, were on a mass casual leave today.