PSPCL employees protest against non-payment of salaries
PATIALA/BATHINDA: /RUPNAGAR: Employees of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on Monday held protests in Patiala, Bathinda and Rupnagar against non-payment of their January salaries.
The employees shouted antigovernment slogans in a massive rally at the PSPCL headquarters in Patiala.
Padamjit Singh, patron of the All India Power Engineers Federation, said, “The government is bleeding the PSPCL for its own gains. Under Section 65 of Electricity Act in the event of default in subsidy payment, the government instructions on giving subsidy become inoperative. The continuation of subsidised tariff in the wake of such massive default is a clear violation of this rule. Neither the state government, the regulator nor the power utilities are at liberty to flout the Act. The subsidy is becoming counterproductive.”
In Bathinda, employees under the banner of the Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers’ Association, carried out a rally outside the premises of the Guru Nanak Dev thermal plant.
Association regional secretary Abhishek Goel said the main reason behind the non-payment of their salaries is the management’s failure to take proactive steps to get the subsidy amount released.
In Rupnagar, engineers of the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant also held a rally. More than 100 engineers, including the chief engineer, deputy chief engineers and executive engineers, protested.