A section of electricity employees, claiming with 95 per cent officers and workers as members with them, have issued a warning against the Jharkhand Power Holding Company to go on strike from February 11. The employees are charging the company with violating the clauses of the Electricity Act-2003 and insufficient assurances made to them before going ahead with unbundling the JSEB.
The faction also blamed the erstwhile board for misleading those who had signed the agreement with it about the transfer policy, service conditions, status of their services before getting the proposal passed from the Cabinet.
“Those six associations who had signed the agreement constitute just five per cent of the total employees. They were given allurements about postings and promotions and pressurised citing threats of imposing probe. We have demanded the holding company to come clean over our grievances or the entire State would have to face complete black out from February 11,” said MP Yadav, leader of one of the associations.
The agitators are of the view that their service conditions have not been safeguarded in the transfer scheme when they would become employees of any company and not the JSEB as earlier or of the Government. “Also, the assets of the JSEB would be of company which can even be sold. Provisions under Section-132 of the Act should have been applied or explained that in future it would not be sold,” added Yadav.
The employees are also questioning the intention of the Government for not taking them as its asset like it did for the assets with the board, which make the future of the workers uncertain. Decision to handover franchise for electricity distribution for Ranchi and Jamshedpur to private companies ahead of unbundling and no words on pay revision as per 6th Pay Commission recommendations are the other grievances raised by them.
“It seems that unbundling has been done in a hurry and just to take `4,000 of grant coming from the center. There is no word on regularising daily wages workers in the transfer scheme. We have sent a letter to the Chief Minister, the Energy Minister and the Chief Secretary and are awaiting their responses. If nothing happens, our decision to go on strike is final,” said Yadav.