Power Engineers To Intensify Stir In Patiala

After a two-day strike by non-gazetted employees of the Power State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), now the engineers have decided to intensify their agitation against the alleged indifferent attitude of the management towards their long pending demands.

PSEB Engineers’ Association president Baldev Singh Sran said on June 21, engineers working with the PSPCL and the Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) would keep their mobile phones switched off from 11 am to 1.30 pm. He said the agitation would be further intensified and the engineers would hold dharnas every week starting from Patiala on July 3, followed by a state-level dharna in front of the PSPCL head office in Patiala on August 21.

Sanjeev Sood, association general secretary, said that while the engineers are working to avoid any interruption in power supply, the PSPCL has not made any efforts to rationalize the workload norms of engineers, who are working under stressful conditions, particularly those responsible for maintaining grid sub-stations. He said that the PSPCL management had also failed to strengthen the coal management organization.

The management of coal was critical since there was a huge gap between its demand and supply, he said, adding with the coming up of new thermal plants, the demand would go up further.