Despite govt’s assurance, non-gazetted power staff continue strike
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 9
Notwithstanding the assurance given by the management of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) that the Punjab Government has accepted several demands of the protesting employees of the PSPCL and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL), non-gazetted employees continued the strike for the second consecutive day.

However, its effect was less today, as according to power corporation officials, some of the employees union did not observe the strike.

The protesting employees were adamant that their agitation would continue till the government issued written orders regarding the acceptance of their demands. On the other hand, the PSPCL management claimed that the effect of the strike was negligible and there was no major power breakdown in the state.

Employees Joint Forum leaders, including Karamchand Bhardwaj and Surinder Pehalwan, however, said the strike was successful with thousands of employees participating in protest demonstrations. “The PSPCL management is claiming that power supply in the state has not been hit due to the strike. Our forum had already made it clear that we will be staging a protest and boycotting work and not resort to any move to disrupt power supply in Punjab,” they said.

State president and general secretary of the Council of Junior Engineers Sawarn Lal and Davinder Singh, respectively, said they had not accepted the appeal of the PSPCL management to withdraw the strike call as the government had only given a verbal assurance that some demands had been accepted. “We want a circular from the government. Besides, we want that all our demands should be accepted,” they added.

The council leaders further said they strongly opposed the move of the PSPCL management to abolish a large number of posts of employees.

Meanwhile, as per information available, cash counters and complaint centres were operational in some parts of the state. “The strike call was not supported by all employees’ unions and hence the attendance of the staff was quite good today,” claimed a PSPCL spokesperson.