The Odisha Power Transmission Engineers’ Association (OPTEA) on Wednesday urged the Government to bring modifications in the policy regarding induction of engineers at the board level to make them part of a policymaking process for development of the power sector at large.
They demanded relaxation in the qualifying criteria in order to give scope for the insider candidates to compete for the post of director instead of taking persons from outside just by virtue of their higher pay-scale. The qualifying criteria for the appointment to the post of director require that one must have completed five years as Chief Engineer with three years of service still left till retirement, which prohibits many to aspire for the prestigious post, OPTEA president Biswa Ranjan Mishra said.
The OPTEA also demanded appointment of at least 50 per cent of engineers to the board and setting up of a standing committee comprising incumbent engineers to scrutinise any policy relating to finance, engineering and HR before it is placed before the Board of Directors.
Engineers in Odisha are paid less than their counterparts in other States after the erstwhile OSEB was privatised into discoms, the association alleged. Their pay-scales had been revised just twice in 2000 and 2010 after the OSEB was corporatised, whereas in other States, pay revision takes place every five years, association leaders said.
Besides, there is no proper career planning, job rotation policy, and no steps are taken to groom engineers by giving them higher responsibilities. Some engineers are still continuing in the same post for years together, they said.
Among the other key demands, the association called for giving the power transmission companies like the OPTCl and the Gridco more autonomy in the matter of employee recruitment and the matters relating to their welfare notwithstanding the Government control over these companies.
The association also sought an early Government intervention to consider the stipendary engineers’ period for calculation of total years of service for grant of benefit under the Revised Assured Career Progression (RACP) policy, which has been approved by the board about a month ago.