Power supply employees go on indefinite strike across JK

Srinagar, Jammu : Thousands of power supply employees on Saturday launched a ”work boycott” across Jammu and Kashmir to press for their four-point demands, including shelving a proposed joint venture between the Jammu and Kashmir Power Transmission Corporation Limited and the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.
The employees, from all unions and associations, from linemen to senior engineers, decided to go on indefinite strike after failure of talks with the government, and staged demonstrations in the twin capital cities besides in district headquarters, a spokesperson of the coordination committee of power supply employees said. He said they had presented a four-point formula to the government but it failed to accept their demands, including a white paper on non-fulfilment of the recommendations of the unbundling report and the failure to create positions as mandated by the committee at gazetted and non-gazetted levels, regularisation of daily wagers and regularisation of all power development department engineers.
They also demanded delinking their salary from grant-in-aid and releasing a regular budget for all PDD employees on deputation to different corporations and a white paper of service condition of PDD employees on deputation to the Chenab Valley Power Projects Private Limited (CVPPL) and similarly situated employees deputed from the NHPC, the spokesperson said.
”The path of confrontation is being pushed by the government, and unless it comes up with a concrete resolution of the issues, PDD employees shall be forced to proceed on work boycott,” a spokesperson of the Jammu & Kashmir Power Employees and Engineers Coordination Committee (JKPEECC) said.
He said repairs and restoration work would not be undertaken at all unless the feeder is supplied to any hospital. The work boycott will stand unless the government gives a written assurance accepting their demands, he added.