Power staff blow a fuse over demands, threaten to strike

Hyderabad: The employees of the State Energy Department have threatened to hold massive protests on October 26 if their long-standing demands are not fulfilled.

The Telangana Electricity Employees 1104 union announced that it will hold a 'maha dharna’ at the corporate office of Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited (TGSPDCL) on October 26, calling for the resolution of the demands of employees and artisans working in the company.

State general secretary of the union, affiliated with CPI(M), G Saibabu, gave a notice to TGSPDCL chairman and managing director, Musharaff Ali Faruqui, on Thursday evening. In it, he detailed that if the union’s demands were not considered in the next few days, it would hold a massive protest at the SPDCL headquarters in which employees from all the offices across the state would take part. Despite several representations made in the last three to four years, the issues of employees, operations, and maintenance workers have not been resolved, he said.

He further insisted that a Pre-Negotiation Meeting (PNC) be conducted to resolve all the major issues of the employees by October 25 in a harmonious manner, failing which the union would be left with no other option but to hold the protest as planned. The union leaders claimed that the transfers of Operation and Maintenance (O&M) staff are not aligned with the State government’s guidelines, which stipulate that transfers should occur after four years of service. This discrepancy has led to severe hardships for nearly 23,000 field workers, they alleged. The Telangana Electricity BC and OC Employees’ Joint Action Committee was also exerting pressure on the managements of power utilities to review the promotions given in the four public sector undertakings. They also threatened to go on strike if promotions are not awarded to them in the next few days. The artisans are also not happy with the decision of the power utilities not to consider them as regular employees and promote them as junior linesmen.