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Ludhiana: PSPCL rule change sparks protest among apprentice linemen over 6,000 ALM posts
The issue snowballed on Monday, with apprentice linemen holding parallel meetings at different levels. A meeting between candidates who had already completed an apprenticeship and the PSPCL management in Patiala remained inconclusive
Anger erupted among apprentice linemen across Punjab after Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) uploaded its long-awaited notification for the recruitment of 6,000 Assistant Linemen (ALMs), with candidates alleging that the move has put their employment prospects at risk instead of offering relief.
While the large-scale recruitment drive was expected to trigger celebrations among those who had completed or were currently undergoing apprenticeships at the power utility, the notification instead sparked widespread resentment over the removal of apprenticeship preference and the scrapping of mandatory punjabi as an eligibility criterion.
The issue snowballed on Monday, with apprentice linemen holding parallel meetings at different levels. A meeting between candidates who had already completed an apprenticeship and the PSPCL management in Patiala remained inconclusive, while over 2,000 apprentice linemen currently undergoing training gathered at Rakh Bagh in Ludhiana to chalk out their next course of action.
The meeting saw participation from senior leaders of power employees’ unions and pensioners’ bodies, who described the release of 6,000 ALM posts as a major victory of past struggles but strongly criticised the clauses related to apprenticeship and punjabi language eligibility.
PSEB Employees Federation (AITUC) state general secretary Rashpal Singh Pali, along with zonal and circle union leaders, said the removal of apprenticeship weightage would amount to a betrayal of Punjab’s youth.
Union leaders demanded that candidates who have already completed apprenticeship under different central recruitment agencies (CRAs) should be recruited directly without any test, while those currently undergoing apprenticeship should be absorbed after completion of their remaining two months of training.
They said the corporation could continue future recruitments at the industrial training institute (ITI) level if required, but the present batch of trained apprentices should be given first preference in view of their direct field exposure and prior engagement with the utility.
Leaders of the 2600 Apprenticeship Union and the PSPCL and BBMB Apprenticeship Pass Union warned that if the notification remains unchanged, a large number of jobs in the power corporation could go to candidates from outside Punjab, further worsening the employment crisis among local youth.
They argued that many government jobs in the state had already gone to candidates from other states and alleged that removing mandatory Punjabi from the recruitment process could further reduce opportunities for Punjab-based applicants.
The protesters also appealed to the Punjab government, PSPCL management, and power minister Sanjeev Arora to intervene and protect the interests of local youth. They said the demand for mandatory punjabi in all recruitments was not merely linguistic but directly linked to safeguarding employment opportunities for Punjab’s youth.
The leaders addressing the gathering announced that they would first seek another meeting with PSPCL management. In case of their demands not being accepted, the linemen warned of a sharp state-level agitation, describing it as an ‘aar-paar’ battle for jobs and language rights.
