Chandigarh 30th January-
The protest of electricity employees continued today as well against the privatization of the electricity department and against forcefully handing over the department employees to a private company without fixing the service conditions and stake of the employees and without taking the option and to cancel the LOI issued to the company illegally and rallies were held in all the offices during the lunch break.
While addressing the rallies, Union President Amrik Singh, General Secretary Gopal Dutt Joshi, Vice President Gurmeet Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Swarn Singh, Vinay Prasad, Kashmir Singh, Paan Singh, Amit Dhigra, Virendra Singh, Lalit Singh, Satkar Singh, Harjinder Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Gagandeep, Jagtar Singh, Ram Gopal, Surinder Singh, Resham Singh and Federation President Raghveer Chand, Senior Vice President Rajinder Katoch, Harpal Singh, Toplan, former President Ram Saroop, Harinder Prasad etc. demanded to cancel the decision of selling the profit-making electricity department to a private company at a throwaway price and to cancel the LoI given to the company. And alleged that the administration officials are repeatedly flouting the rules and bidding process and questioned the working style of the officials for not cancelling the LOI despite the company repeatedly changing the conditions. And said that the officials are working in favour of the company and violating the service conditions of the employees and without taking the option from the employees, they are being forcibly handed over to the private company against their will. The speakers demanded to adjust other employees in the engineering department on the lines of disabled employees and appealed to the administrator to end discrimination against them as well.
And said that handing over the department to the private company without deciding the service conditions of the employees and without taking their option is a violation of their constitutional rights. He questioned whether the private company will implement the reservation policy on SC, OBC, ST, EWS etc.? Will the employees be able to appeal in CAT if the service conditions and salary discrepancy and Pay Commission report are not implemented? If not, is this not a violation of the rights of the employees?
The speakers asked how can anyone change the government status of the employees without asking them? Actually, the officials had to publish the transfer policy before inviting the tenders, which they have not done even after 4 years, and in the name of draft bidding document, mistakes are being made again and again to hide the same mistake.
The speakers further said that the administration is talking about making a policy after handing over the department, and is creating a misunderstanding that the transfer policy will be made after handover, which is baseless and illogical. He said that when the transfer policy is provisional for one year, then why cannot the employees remain in government jobs until the option is taken. He warned that the administration should immediately take a clear decision on the issues related to the employees and in this regard, the decision taken regarding the employees transferred from UT to MC, the decision taken regarding the employees of NTPC in which it was said that the employer cannot be changed without the consent of the employee and the decision should be taken keeping in mind the adjustment of the employees of Government Press in other departments etc., in relation to which detailed memos have been given to all the officers of the administration, but instead of paying attention to this, provocative actions are being taken repeatedly, which will not be tolerated at any cost.
The speakers alleged that the administration is not being transparent even in creating SLDC, STU and adjusting employees on them and is secretly adopting the policy of pick and choose, and posts are not being given even against 220 KV, 66 KV, 33 KV. He said that SLDC and STU were to be made before the bidding process, which is being made today, then why is the transfer policy not being made before the handover? And why is the option not being taken? In this regard, the union delegation met the secretary of the department and demanded to take the option before the transfer and to maintain the government status of the employees till the option is taken.
Demanding the complete cancellation of privatization and cancellation of LOI, warned that the day the department is handed over, the work boycott will be started from that day itself. In this regard, notice has been given to all the senior officials of the administration including the Chief Engineer. The speakers warned that if before handing over the department, the employees are sent to private companies without making a policy for them and taking an option, then the employees will boycott the work, due to which the administration's adamant attitude will be responsible for the problems faced by the general public.