Cesu staffs protest irregularities

Questioning the alleged “silence” of the Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) in recovering arrears of around Rs 140 crore pending with different private franchisees in the distribution business engaged by it, the Nikhila Odisha Bidyut Sramik Mahasangha on Thursday staged a demonstration in front of the Idco Tower which houses the Cesu office here.

Also protesting against the authorities’ lackadaisical attitude towards the employees, the Mahasangha threatened to intensify the agitation.

“In most of the areas, though the Cesu has engaged franchisees for billing and collecting payments, the franchisees are not doing this. Instead, Cesu employees are visiting door to door for billing and collecting money. At the same time, the franchisees are taking crores of rupees from the Cesu for the purpose which exposes the nexus between top Cesu officials, franchisees and also Government officials,” alleged Mahasangha general secretary Akshaya Kumar Tripathy.

He alleged that though the Mahasangha has taken up various issues of employees with the Cesu CEO, the human resources department of the utility is not implementing the same resulting in many problems to staffs.

He further alleged that employees are getting salaries irregularly. “Hence, we demand immediate cancellation of franchises and effective steps to sort out employees’ issues,” he said.