Bhubaneswar, Aug. 20: Employees of Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Limited (OHPC) have threatened to go on a cease work from September 6. The state has seven hydropower stations.

The employees are demanding non-diversion of funds from their organisation and revision of their pay package. “We have issued the ultimatum to the government and asked to fulfil our demands by September 5. If the government fails to do it by the deadline, we will begin cease work from next day,” said chairman of the OHPC employees’ association Ramesh Chandra Satpathy. “Not a single hydropower station has come up in the state after the OHPC was formed in 1996,” he said.

The association would oppose the move to divert its funds to set up a thermal power station at Kamakhya Nagar in the undivided Dhenkanal district. “We will not allow the government to take away funds from OHPC coffers to build a thermal power station,” he said. The OHPC management has allowed diversion of Rs 206 crore from OHPC for this proposed thermal power plant. He said lack of foresight on the part of the government had led to increase in power cost produced by the OHPC.

“There has been no revision of salaries for the employees since 2010. Our other sister organisations in the power sector are getting a good package,” Satpathy said.