Fault repairs delayed amid outsourced staff’s strike in Ludhiana

The outsourced employees resumed their strike on the night of July 22, alleging that the Punjab government and PSPCL management failed to honour their assurance of issuing notifications and joining letters by July 15 for eligible workers to be brought under departmental contracts

Several localities remained without electricity for up to 14 hours after Friday night’s rain and thunderstorm in the city as fault rectification and consumer service operations slowed amid a shortage of field staff due to the ongoing strike by 315 outsourced employees of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), officials said.

Officials said the shortage of staff led to delays in processing consumer requests, while employees acknowledged that complaint registration and forwarding for field action were taking longer than normal in several cases. (HT FILE)

The outsourced employees resumed their strike on the night of July 22, alleging that the Punjab government and PSPCL management failed to honour their assurance of issuing notifications and joining letters by July 15 for eligible workers to be brought under departmental contracts.

According to officials and consumers, electricity supply remained disrupted in parts of Model Town, Agar Nagar, Focal Point and City West divisions, where restoration took considerably longer than usual after the storm damaged the distribution network.

While the PSPCL maintained that essential operations continued, the strike by outsourced employees affected consumer-facing services at Suvidha Kendras, meter laboratories, stores, NCC, CRC and PESCO units across the central zone.

Officials said the shortage of staff led to delays in processing consumer requests, while employees acknowledged that complaint registration and forwarding for field action were taking longer than normal in several cases.

Consumers who visited power offices on Friday said they returned disappointed after failing to get their work completed. Radhika Sharma, a senior citizen who visited a Suvidha Kendra for a billing-related issue, said people were being forced to make repeated visits without knowing when their work will be completed.

Davinder Pal Singh Sunny, president of the Outsourced Employees Federation Punjab, said the employees had earlier suspended their agitation after receiving assurances from the management but resumed the strike after the promised deadline passed without any action. “Until a concrete decision is taken and eligible employees are inducted under departmental contracts, our agitation will continue,” he said.

PSPCL’s Ludhiana central zone chief engineer Jagdev Singh Hans said services had been affected because of the absence of outsourced employees, but electricity supply was being maintained through alternative arrangements.

“The department is making all possible efforts to restore supply after faults and minimise inconvenience to consumers. We are also hopeful that the issue will be resolved through dialogue at the earliest,” he said.