Former discom employees protest irregular pensions

NEWDELHI: Irked by irregular pensions and the inability to avail post-retirement benefits, ex-employees of the erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) staged a protest outside BSES Rajdhani Power Limited’s headquarters in Nehru Place.

The protestors claimed that 22,000 retired employees are running from pillar to post to get their demands heard. Last year, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had allocated ₹540 crore to ensure smooth functioning of the Pension Trust that was formed when the DVB was unbundled into five companies – three private and two stateowned – in 2000.

“The terminal benefits are delayed by six to eight months. Pensions are disbursed only when the retired employees follow it up with the discoms. Similarly, cashless medical facilities have also not been restored,” said Sunil Gupta, who is spearheading the campaign for the pensioners.

A number of MLAs including Madan Lal from Kasturba Nagar, ND Sharma from Badarpur and Parveen Kumar from Jungpura joined the protest. But the protestors rued that the government is not helping them. “They always put the blame on the discoms,” said Bhishan Swaroop Sharma of the Pension Fighters group.

They have now planned to protest outside Delhi Transco Limited and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited’s office.

The Trust was created to disburse pensions for a span of 60 years so that the last employee or its dependent will be covered till that time. But it became bankrupt after 10 years of operation.

According to the Delhi government, the matter has already been taken up by power minister Satyendar Jain. “The issue has been dealt with several times in meetings and the DERC makes an annual allocation towards the Trust. We are checking with discoms if they are making timely payments or not,” said an official.