Unbundling Woes
Power Corp staff reject tripartite agreement draft
Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 26
The Punjab Government has sent a draft of tripartite agreement to various employee unions and the associations of two power utilities formed after the bifurcation of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).

According to information, majority of the unions and the PSEB Engineers’ Association have rejected the draft stating that it was nothing but betrayal with them, as assurances given by the state government at the time of unbundling of the PSEB do not figure in it.

Notably, after unbundling, a tripartite agreement was supposed to be signed by the state government, trade unions and the management of the newly constituted power corporations. It has now been more than five months, but this agreement is yet to be signed.

Initially, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) had given a draft of the agreement to the employee unions and other associations of power corporation and the latter returned the same after giving their suggestion, regarding the amendments to be made in the draft.

Now the state government has sent another draft of the tripartite agreement to the PSPCL, a copy of which has been given to various employee unions and engineers association on Friday. “The draft nowhere mentioned that both power utilities (PSPCL and PSTCL) would remain state owned, which would give companies the liberty to do whatever they want”, said Manjit Singh Chahal, a senior leader of the PSEB Joint Forum, Punjab, a conglomerate of various employees unions.

Interestingly, in the previous draft, the unions have suggested that issue regarding the protection of the service conditions, pay scales and perks of the employees should be elaborated. “We have asked the government that agreement must mention that employees would continue to get electricity concession, medical reimbursement and other incentives but this has been deleted in the draft sent by the government”, said Chahal.

“The draft agreement has no mention about creating a corpus fund for the GPF”, pointed out another employee union leader. The employees and the engineers have stated that they will not sign the tripartite agreement until the government makes necessary changes, in accordance with the promises made at the time of unbundling