Power employees begin indefinite work boycott in state

Our indefinite work boycott has begun and we again urge the energy min to intervene into the matter to prevent the situation from taking any ugly turn SHAILENDRA, Sangharsh Samiti convenor

State’s power engineers and employees on Tuesday began state-wide indefinite work boycott in response to a call by the U.P. Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti to protest against their longpending demands, including time-bound pay-scales, a Sangharsh Samiti spokesman said.

However, employees engaged in generating, transmitting and distributing electricity have, for now, been exempted from the boycott following trade union leaders’ meeting with the additional chief secretary, energy, Mahesh Gupta last night.

The agitation personnel also took out torch processions and held protest meetings in several cities. In the state capital, they held a day-long protest meeting at the field hostel and took out a torch procession in the evening.

“Our indefinite work boycott has begun and we again urge the energy minister to intervene into the matter to prevent the situation from taking any ugly turn,” Sangharsh Samiti convenor Shailendra said. He alleged that employees’ longpending legitimate demands were not being accepted due to the management’s arbitrary and repressive attitude. It is said that the ACS, energy, may have a second round to dialogue with the Shangharsh Samiti leaders in a day or two after he gets the input he sought from the latter in Monday’s meeting. “In Yesterday, meeting that was also attended by UPPCL and Utpadan Nigam MDs, we presented our view point but were asked to provide more corroborative input that we will make available to them shortly,” Dubey said. On the other hand, the U.P. Power Officer’s Association said that its members had not joined the agitation and they were even working half an hour extra. “We see no logic behind the work boycott and our members will work half an hour extra every day to see to it that power supply is not disrupted anywhere in the state,” Association working president Avdhesh Kumar Verma said.