PSPCL created history in a wrong way due to its management apathy toward its employees

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On his weekly visit, Punjab state power corporation limited CMD A Venu Prasad today reached PSPCL head office at Patiala and held a meeting with directors, PSEB Engineers Association. Today PSEB Engineers Association wrote a letter to PSPCL CMD and requested him to collect the SIM cards from them. PSEBEA has collected the SIM cards from AE to Engineer-in-chief of the power corporation and requested the CMD to depute any officer/ officials and intimate the same so that Association can handover the SIM to the concerned officer/ official. As per the spokesperson of the association, “PSEBEA has always kept the issues of the power sector above its own demands, but management has been continuously delaying decisions on the already agreed genuine demands of engineers. Association has suspended its agitational programme on 8.7.21 in view of assurance given by committee constituted by CM, Punjab to resolve the issue of initial start in a positive manner. The Association suspended agitation to avoid any discomfort to the public in view of the unprecedented power situation. However, engineers feel cheated as management now has taken a U-turn on all the agreed issues involving engineers. Even after more than one month, MOM of the committee has not been issued. Further, the already decided issue of creation of WFC has been distorted by inclusion of officers not related to PSPCL and excluding employee’s representation clearly deviating from established practice. PSPCL even deviated from Punjab Govt circular, by putting its employees in a disadvantageous position by allowing 14% contribution from prospectively date meaning that PSPCL employees will not be given this from the date of being granted to Punjab Govt. employees. Management by deliberately delaying/distorting agreed decisions has disturbed the industrial peace and has forced the engineers over a path of agitation.” He said, as per announced agitation program conveyed to the PSPCL CMD on August 5, 2021, “engineers have removed official SIM cards from their mobiles on August 10,2021 and today we requested the CMD to depute any officer/ officials and intimate the same so that Association can handover the SIM to the concerned officer/ official.” He further added that “we requested the management and again cautioned them that these genuine issues of engineers be resolved in a time bound manner otherwise the Association will be compelled to intensify the agitation further for which only management will be responsible.”

PSPCL created history in a wrong way due to its management apathy toward its employees

Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in

The members of PSEB Engineers’ Association comprising all the officers of PSPCL/ PSTCL from the rank of Assistant Engineer to Engineer-in-Chief have removed their official mobile SIMs under protest. Power Engineers have been on protest for the last many months against the Management due to the non-resolution of their long pending genuine demands.

PSPCL created history in a wrong way due to its management apathy toward its employees, as it is for the first time in the history of PSPCL or erstwhile PSEB that such an action has been taken by the engineers association, in such a large scale.

It is pertinent to mention that PSEB Engineers’ Association had already given advance notice for the agitation program. Multiple times the agitation program has been postponed/ delayed on the assurances of the management. Recently, on the appeal of CM Punjab and keeping in view the power crisis in the State the agitation was postponed for more than 30 days. Even after repeated positive assurances regarding the start scale of 18030/- to new engineers no concrete action has been taken by the management till date. Moreover management has gone against an established policy by excluding the representatives of employee associations/ unions from the Wage Formulation Committee, even though the power corporation is not dependent on Punjab Govt. for its pay but management has included two number representatives from outside power corporations in the Wage Formulation Committee. They may have no knowledge about the power sector and its working and may not be able to contribute to the Wage Formulation Committee to justify their inclusion in the committee.

PSPCL created history in a wrong way due to its management apathy toward its employees

As the genuine demands of the Engineers were ignored by the Management, the Engineers today removed their official SIM Cards from mobile sets. Cautioning the management that removing the SIMs will hamper some financial transactions and other statutory time bound compliances, Association has written to PSPCL and PSTCL managements to make alternate offline arrangements for the same.

Er. Jasvir Singh Dhiman, President of the Association informed that the Association has always kept the issues of the power sector above its own demands, the Engineers of PSPCL/ PSTCL toil hard day and night to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the public of Punjab but management has consistently adopted a strategy of ignoring the genuine issues and is deliberately forcing the engineers to a path of agitation.

Er. Dhiman cautioned the management that if the genuine issues of engineers are not resolved in a time bound manner the engineers will be compelled to intensify the agitation further for which only management will be responsible.

Association further appeals to the Chief Minister Punjab to get these issues resolved.

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