Power PSU employees threaten strike from today

By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 27 May: Talks between the representatives of the employees of the three power corporations of Uttarakhand and the management of the Corporations held last night have failed to yield any positive outcome. The employee unions have expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome. They have threatened to go on strike in Uttarakhand from the night of 28 May. Such a threat is very serious considering that the state is presently dealing with Covid pandemic and regular power supply in the state in the hospitals as well as oxygen plants is very crucial. Most demands of the employees did not result in any positive assurance from the management of the corporations. The unions have declared that their proposed strike plan to go on strike from the night of 28 May remains unchanged. Besides this, the employees also plan to gherao the managements and not allow them to function from the night of 28 May. The Uttarakhand Electricity Officer-Employee Samukta Sangharsh Morcha Convenor, Insar-ul-Haque said today that, on Wednesday, the three power corporations (UPCL, UJVNL and PTCUL) called an online meeting with the employees’ organisations. In the meeting, constituents of the Front comprising the Hydro Electric Employees Union, Uttaranchal Electricity Workers Union, Uttarakhand Energy Workers Organisation, Technical Employees Union, Uttaranchal Power Engineers Association, Uttarakhand Power Junior Engineers Association, Power Class Reserve Association, Uttarakhand Electrical Contract Employees Association, Electrical Diploma Engineers Association, the Chairmen and General Secretaries of Power Accounts Association participated. The meeting discussed the phased public awareness programme given by the Front in connection with the 14-point demand letter on March 20, and the proposed strike from May 28. All the constituent organisations of the Morcha drew the attention of the management to the 14 point demands.
The three managements, however, did not give any assurance of positive action on any of the demands and instead just appealed them to postpone the strike in view of the Covid pandemic. The managements however assured the unions that camps for vaccination of the employees and their family members would be organised soon.
An emergency meeting of all constituent organisations-associations was called after the virtual meeting with the managements ended. It was decided unanimously that the proposed strike call would remain unchanged from midnight of 28 until a positive decision is announced by the government.
Rakesh Sharma, Vijay Bisht, Kehar Singh, Pankaj Saini, Bhanu Joshi, Vicky Das, Saurabh Pandey, Anil Mishra, Sandeep Sharma, Anand Singh Rawat, Vinod Kavi, Pradeep Kansal were among those present in the meeting held late last night.