The employees of the State Energy Department in Telangana have threatened to hold large protests on October 26 if their demands are not met.
The Telangana Electricity Employees 1104 union announced that they would organize a ‘maha dharna’ (mass protest) in front of the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited (TGSPDCL) corporate office. Their protest aims to address the issues faced by employees and artisans working in the company.
G Saibabu, the union’s state general secretary, who is affiliated with the CPI(M), sent a notice to the TGSPDCL chairman and managing director, Musharaff Ali Faruqui. In the notice, Saibabu mentioned that if their demands were not addressed soon, they would gather employees from various offices across the state for the protest. He also pointed out that despite several requests over the last three to four years, the problems of employees, especially those related to operations and maintenance, have not been resolved.
Saibabu called for a Pre-Negotiation Meeting (PNC) to resolve these issues by October 25. He emphasized that if the meeting doesn’t happen, the union will have no choice but to go ahead with the protest as planned.
The union leaders also raised concerns about the transfers of Operation and Maintenance (O&M) staff. They claimed that these transfers were not following the State government’s guidelines, which say that transfers should happen after four years of service. This has caused difficulties for around 23,000 field workers.
In addition, the Telangana Electricity BC and OC Employees’ Joint Action Committee is pressuring the power utility management to review recent promotions in the four public sector undertakings. They have threatened to strike if promotions are not given soon. Meanwhile, artisans working for the company are unhappy because they are not being treated as regular employees and are not being promoted to junior linesmen positions.
