Chandigarh: PSEB employees and officers held protest rallies throughout Punjab to protest against the delay in the revision of pay scales.

On the call of the Co-ordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Officers consisting of PSEB Joint Forum, PSEB Engineers Association, Council of JEs, General Officers Association and Accounts Officer Organization, the employees and officers from Class-IV to Chief Engineer participated in a protest rally held in front of the PSEB Head Office at Patiala, The employees and officers were protesting against non implementation of the revised pay scales agreed with the employee’s unions by the Board through Wage Formulation Committee.

At Patiala Various Union Leaders criticized the State Govt. for interfering in the pay revision exercise of PSEB for which Board is fully autonomous as per section 79-C of 1948 Supply Act. The Boards have been created under the Act of the Parliament, which empowers the Board Management to devise pay structure of its employees and officers in view of the arduous nature of duties carried out by them. PSEB had been revising the pay scales of its employees in the past also without any interference of the State Govt. However, this time the State machinery is forcing the Board Management to enforce downgraded pay structure. On the one hand, State Govt. is conceding in writing that PSEB is autonomous to devise the pay scales to its employees but on the other hand dictating terms and conditions both in writing as well as verbally through State Govt. representative in the Board.

. H. S. Bedi, Bhupinder Singh, Surinder Singh Pahalwan, Jagtar Singh Uppal, Karam Chand Bhardwaj, Er. Davinder Singh, V. K. Goyal, Paramjit Singh Bedi, Brij Lal, Manjit Singh Chahal, Alam Singh were amongst various speakers who addressed thae rally at Patiala

At Ropar Thermal Plant over 1000 officers and employees attended the joint rally at the main gate of plant. These included all employees from unskilled Workers to
Deputy Chief Engineers working in the Thermal Plant.

S.C. Chabba, Sr. Vice-President of PSEB Engineers' Association said that the wage formulation committee had submitted its report in August

And the board had promised to implement the report in September. Now PSEB has been dragging its feet from taking a decision on the recommendations of the committee.

Harmesh Dhiman an employee leader said that the wage structure devised and agreed to by consensus
through negotiated settlement process was not being implemented. It was claimed that

Only the existing differential with state government employees had been protected.

BS Saini President RTP employees union alleged that the bureaucracy was hindering the process of this
implementation and in the process attempting to disturb industrial peace in this critical venture of state government. Punjab Government employees have been enjoying the benefits of wage revision that was being denied to PSEB employees.

The rally unanimously resolved to go to any extent including total strike at this generating plant in case the WFC report was not implemented well before Diwali. In such an event, the responsibility for power failure due to no generation will rest on the shoulders of the state government and Board management.

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