Patna, Oct. 24: Bihar Jharkhand Rajya Vidyut Parishad Field Kamgar Union, the biggest association of state electricity board employees, today took out a rally in protest against bifurcation and privatisation of the board.
Members of the union pressed for various demands, including pension and timely payment of salary before Diwali, Chhath and other festivals.
The union also sought enhancement of grade pay and pay band for Grade III employees according to the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. Besides, it said, all temporary technicians, assistant operators and junior line men should be made permanent workers, posts of vacant assistant and junior engineers should be filled up and three time-bound promotions should be implemented.
The union’s general secretary, Amarendra Mishra, who was accompanied by senior vice-president Suresh Yadav, vice-president Vishnu Kumar Verma and treasurer Dhirendra Jha, alleged that the board administration had backtracked from its commitment to fulfil its promises regarding the employees’ demands.
“The electricity board had constituted a salary anomalies redressal committee to look into power employees’ grievances. It has been more than a year since the committee was constituted. But the employees do not have any inkling whether the committee has submitted its report or when it would submit the report,” Mishra said.
Criticising the board’s decision to recruit junior and assistant engineers through campus selection, Mishra said the had pledged that Grade IV employees such as junior line men, technicians or assistant operators, who have received training from Industrial Training Institute, would be absorbed inservice but the board has retracted from its commitment to do so.
Employees, including those who have been working on contract, have not been paid their salaries since Dussehra.
Mishra said the union would organise a statewide rally on November 24 to protest against the privatisation and bifurcation of the electricity board and added that privatisation would lead to retrenchment of employees and consumers would have to pay more.
The state government has recently initiated the process to dismantle the board in this regard.
