Bhubaneswar: All-Odisha Power Engineers' Federation, an outfit of electrical engineers of organisations such as the OPTCL, Gridco and the OHPC, have demanded that the state government not book the engineers under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for power failure.

The association also made other demands, including creation of corpus fund for maintenance of lines and substations and introduction of health insurance for them.

"Being unable to pay the cost of power purchase, the four distribution companies have huge arrear towards power purchase for which the maintenance of lines and substations has become poor leading to power failures. Besides, while the number of consumers has increased 3.5 times more in the past two decades, the manpower (engineers and technicians) have reduced to one-third. This is the reason behind poor quality of service and in this circumstances, engineers cannot be held guilty for power failure," said chairman of the federation Biswaranjan Mishra.

Mishra said three such incidents had taken place in 2017 when the engineers were booked under various sections under CrPC for power failures.

The association also demanded formation of one distribution corporation by amalgamation of the four distribution companies and eventually formation of one power corporation by combining generation, transmission and distribution.

"We also demand implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations at the earliest. Electrical engineers have extended work hours and work even on holidays to ensure uninterrupted power. But we get less salary than our counterparts in other states," said Mishra.

More than 3,000 power engineers work in the state.The engineers also demanded concrete steps to prevent power theft.

"The demand for electricity have increased significantly over the years and concrete steps should be taken to prevent power theft. An effective mechanism should be put in place by the local administration, along with police and engineers, to nab those accused of power theft," said vice-chairman of the association P.K. Pattanayak. The state has more than 64 lakh electricity consumers.