PSEB staff protest against board unbundling
TNN, 10 February 2010,
LUDHIANA: PSEB technical staff has gone on strike for 24 hours to pressurize government for fulfilment of their demands. In the wake of the strike, the authorities have been finding it difficult to manage complaints of the public. Thus, they have deputed over 1,000 officers on duty at their sub-stations so that there is no problem in provision of electricity to the public. The strike started at midnight on Tuesday and will continue till midnight on Wednesday.

The employees are protesting against unbundling of the board- the last date for the unbundling is approaching. This time around, state government has to submit its final report. The employees are demanding that state government should pass a resolution in Punjab vidhan sabha and suspend Power Act 2003 because it would give impetus to privatization and the entire working would be affected.

The employees are also demanding that the state government should review the payscales that they have implemented in aftermath of the fifth pay commission report because it has disturbed the uniformity in their payscales. The employees staged protest and rallies in various divisions including Ludhiana, Jagraon, Lalton Kalan, Adda Dakha and Ahmedgarh. In this strike, around 55,000 employees are participating. The employees are demanding uniformity in their payscales also because earlier, their salaries used to increase at more or less equal rate, but in this pay revision, the salary of officials at different levels has been increased at unequal rates.

Talking to TOI, Kanwaljit Singh, president, Technical Service Union, PSEB, said they have been protesting against unbundling of the board for a long time, but despite their agitation, the Parliament has approved the unbundling. Therefore, they are pressurizing the state government that they should pass a resolution in Punjab vidhan sabha so that privatization could be avoided. He further asserted that irregularities in the pay revision have annoyed employees and they want the authorities to review it.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Pradeep Gupta, senior XEN, PSEB, said they had deputed XENs and SDOs at fifty six 22 KV feeders for their maintenance so that electricity supply is not disrupted. He further said they are trying their level best to tackle the demands of the public.