Power employees protest for pay hike brings traffic to standstill

Power employees protest for pay hike brings traffic to standstill

Employees of power utilities of Telangana staged a massive protest at Vidyut Soudha here on Friday demanding announcement of pay revision due from April last year and also to address 29 other demands pertaining to regular employees and artisans, including implementation of GPF, instead of EPF to employees, who were recruited during 1999-2004.

The protest brought the vehicular movement on the Khairatabad-Punjagutta road to standstill forcing the commuters to take alternative routes such as Raj Bhavan Road and Road No. 1 Banjara Hills to reach Punjagutta/Ameerpet on one side and Lakdikapul on the other side for a few hours. The protest was announced last week following deadlock in the talks between the managements and employees unions.

The Friday’s protest was staged under the aegis of Telangana State Power Employees Joint Action Committee (TSPEJAC). The employees unions have initially demanded 45% pay hike but a committee formed by the managements had recommended 5% increase keeping in view the financial position of the power utilities even after some hike in the retail supply tariff effected last year (2022-23).

During the talks, the management had offered 6% increase in pay but the JAC insisted on at least 30% hike. The managements’ efforts to explain the employees bodies about the financial position of the utilities and how they were depending on loans to procure energy to meet the ever-growing demand. The managements are of the view that 30% hike as being demanded by employees bodies would burden the utilities by about ₹2,628 crore.

The power utilities have about 31,000 regular employees, over 20,200 artisan and over 20,500 pensioners. The utilities, particularly the two distribution companies (Discoms), are worried that increasing salaries by 30% would further weaken their financial position and the revenue deficit pegged at about ₹7,000 crore would increase further.

However, the employees bodies are of the view that it was with their hard work the State was able provide quality 24x7 power supply to all categories of consumers. Their major demands include cashless treatment facility up to ₹1 crore per employee and eligible dependants.

The issues agreed upon at during the talks held so far include increase in gratuity amount from ₹12 lakh to ₹16 lakh, cashless treatment limit to ₹7 lakh from ₹5 lakh, that of self-funding treatment from ₹6 lakh to ₹12 lakh and the house rent allowance (HRA) ceiling to ₹25,000 per month from ₹20,000 per month.