The adamant daily wage workers of electricity department added with non-responsive approach of State electricity distribution institutions has apparently pushed the State on the verge of complete blackout in a day or two. Workers on strike from Thursday have made it clear that they were not going back to their jobs until their demands came fulfilled. However, the tiny shortcut the government electricity agencies appeared to be taking meanwhile to solve the problem was making situation more troublesome.
The indefinite strike of some 3,000 electricity department daily wage workers started showing results, as districts like lohardaga and Deoghar faced power cut on very first day of the strike. The situation has only started worsening in Khunti, Chaibasa, Simdega and other parts of the State on Friday. Even many parts of capital city faced hour to three hours power cut on Friday.
Jharkhand Electricity Supply Technical Workers Union (JESTWU) president and Congress leader Ajay Rai said on Friday that what contractual employees of Jharkhand Urja Vikas Nigam limited (JUVNl) had been facing since years was ‘sheer breach of trust’ by the company.
“We have four major issues. One, even after a decade of service, we have not been regularized. Two, we are not given priority in new vacancies. Three, the examination taken for line-Man last year and cancelled after cheating and corruption charges were proved in exams has not been rescheduled till date. And four, contractors have been brought in to dismiss daily wage workers and to recruit line-Man of their choice,” said Rai.
"The JUVNl has simply cheated on us. The organisation had promised to accommodate these workers working for last 14-odd years on daily wage in a suitable manner. We were given assurance after we went on a similar strike in September, 2015 that the company will give us priority in its further appointments. However, it only chose to cheat us and outsource the work these 3,000 plus workers had been taking care of day in and day out,” said Rai.
Though JUVNl MD Rahul Purwar could not be contacted for comments on what the government was doing to keep the State away from blackout, a letter from JUVNl Deputy GM to various districts, including Dhanbad, Dumka and Hazaribagh Area Board GM cum Chief Engineer to start recruitment of fresh technical staff through private agencies has only added fuel to the fire.
“There are over 18,000 vacant positions there where JUVNl has to recruit people just on our profile. We are ready to go through whatever criteria the government sets for recruitment. But we fail to understand why the government can’t accommodate merely 3,000 workers, that also skilled, against 18,000 vacancies,” opined Rai.
The tussle between workers and JUVNl has intensified also because the government chose to declare the strike illegal. “We have kept essential services like hospitals and railways away from strike. Moreover, this strike was announced more than a fortnight ago, if our demands remained unfulfilled. In this situation, calling strike illegal is suppression of workers’ rights,” said Rai.