Unions call off stir after HC steps in to cure power cuts
DARK DAYS OVER Strike was called to protest govt’s move to hand over power distribution to private firms
RANCHI: Much to the relief of the residents, the Jharkhand State Electricity Board employees called off their strike on Friday.They were protesting against the state government’s move to hand over power distribution job to private hands.
Pulling up the striking unions, the division bench headed by the chief justice, Prakash Tatia, directed the coordinator of the JSEB unions to withdraw the strike within ten minutes and restore the electricity supply within next half an hour. The order was immediately complied with and the power supply was restored.
Starting the proceedings on Friday, CJ Tatia said that the protestors would not be allowed to disrupt the essential services leaving the people to suffer. He observed that if people become agitated then the protestors would not be able to save themselves.
CJ warned the union that if the strike was not called off within ten minutes, he would pass an order for dismissal of the protestors and they would never ever be reinstated in service. He said that such people should not continue in the board when they failed to understand the importance of electricity.
Responding to the court’s observation, senior advocate RS Majumdar, representing the coordinator of the JSEB unions, informed that the strike would be called off within ten minutes and power supply would be streamlined within hours. Treating Majumdar’s submission as an undertaking, the court said that if it was not done then the head of the unions would have to face contempt of court proceedings.
Majumdar, however, urged the court that the unions be allowed to place their grievances before the court. Allowing his request, the court fixed December 19 to hear the matter.
Responding to the court’s notice of December 6, the chairman of the JSEB filed an affidavit stating that the board had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) and it would take action against the protestors. The board informed that alternative remedial measures had already been taken.
Chief minister Arjun Munda had on Thursday defended the government’s decision to hand over the distribution system to private companies and said such decisions on transmission and production should be taken in future to improve power, profits and prevention of power pil- ferage. He said the agreement would give 80% profit to the government and vendors 20%.
After inking the MoU on Wednesday, Energy secretary Vimal Kirti Singh and JSEB chairman SN Verma had allayed fear of layoff saying there should not be any sense of insecurity among the employees regarding their jobs.
Several workers’ unions under the JSEB went on indefinite strike on Wednesday to protest against the MoU signed by the board with the Tata Power and the Calcutta Electricity Supply Corporation giving them franchise right for electricity distribution in Ranchi and Jamshedpur. This resulted in complete power breakdown in several cities of Jharkhand forcing the high court to take suo moto cognisance of the matter.
In Ranchi, residents of Ashok Nagar, Kadru, Doranda and other areas were reeling under acute power crisis because of the agitating JSEB employees.
The works in nursing home and industrial units have been suspended because of unavailability of power. Similarly, people in Dhanbad, Dumka, Deoghar and several other cities had to face tough time as they remained powerless for the past 36-hours.