Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): As many as 70k employees and engineers of the Electricity Department across the state went on an indefinite strike on Friday, citing government's failure to fulfill their eight-pointer demands like-- stop privatisation, release of Dearness Relief.
They have warned the power staff won't be able to help in case of complete blackout in Madhya Pradesh if their demands are not heard.
President of Employees Union Jitendra Tiwari | FP Photo
President of Employees Union Jitendra Tiwari said that in case there is a complete blackout in the state, electricity department employees will not be available to fix the problem until the government considers their demands.
According to information, hundreds of employees protested by standing in front of the main gate at Shakti Bhawan (headquarters of Madhya Pradesh Electricity Department), located in Jabalpur. Similar demonstrations were reported from other districts-- like Bhopal.
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What Are The Demands?
The employees demand that privatization and TB-CB in the electricity department should be stopped immediately.
The pension should be secured and given through the treasury.
Dearness relief of pensioners should be released immediately, and others.
The employees say that the strike will continue until the government considers their demands. During this time no employee will do any work even if there is a blackout situation in the state.
The employees of the electricity department have also appealed to the consumers to understand the reason behind their going on strike. They said, “We are on strike as we are continuously being harassed by the government.”
However, the state government had imposed a 3-month ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act) on Thursday regarding the electricity department employees on strike. Even after this the employees went on strike.
FP Photo
What Are Complaints?
The electricity workers complained that they had also gone on strike 3 months ago, after which the government had assured to fulfill their demands. But that assurance has not been fulfilled till date.
Therefore, all the electricity employees are forced to adopt the same path of strike again. All the electricity employees of Madhya Pradesh are agitating on major issues like pension, salary discrepancy and privatization. But the government has been continuously ignoring their demands. Due to which once again the electricity workers have opened their front, complained the protestors.
They also said, electricity workers will go on strike in the entire state which may cause a blackout situation in the entire state. The work of power companies may come to a halt for which the government and administration will be responsible.
FP Photo
Probable Consequences Of Strike
Revenue will not be collected
There will be no meter reading
Electricity bills will not be distributed
Office related work will also remain closed
There will be no new meter connections
Electricians will not do power house duty
Staff officers of the maintenance office will also not work.
Mobile phones of all employees will also remain switched off
