Electricity employees press for long-pending demands

The UT Powermen Union held a rally before the electricity office, Manimajra, in support of their long-pending demands on Tuesday. The union will organise a day's strike on February 11.

The UT Powermen Union held a rally before the electricity office, Manimajra, in support of their long-pending demands on Tuesday.

The union will organise a day's strike on February 11. They have been demanding withdrawal of Chandigarh administration's proposal to privatise UT electricity department, filling up over 600 posts lying vacant in the department since long, procurement of cable, joint, transformer, meter, tubes, fusewire, and other urgent material, offer of appointment to the next kin of diseased employees of powercom pattern, removal of pay anomalies, amendments in rules and safety devices to the workmen, including procurement of fault locator and boom ladder bans for immediate attending of breakdowns and complaints.

Union general secretary Gopal Datt Joshi, while addressing the rally, strongly criticised the administration for its proposal to corporatise the electricity department and its negative attitude towards the genuine long-pending demands of the employees.

Union president Ram Sarup said, instead of implementing the demands, authorities, particularly the superintending engineer (SE), electricity, was adopting repressive attitude and employee were being harassed by way of transferring them.