TNEB contract workers stage demonstration seeking regularisation of services

Scores of contract workers employed by Tamil Nadu Electricity Board staged a demonstration in front of Ramanathapuram Collectorate demanding regularisation of their services, on Tuesday.

Scores of contract workers employed by Tamil Nadu Electricity Board staged a demonstration in front of Ramanathapuram Collectorate demanding regularisation of their services, on Tuesday.

The protest was led by secretary of Central Organisation of Tamil Nadu Electricity Employees, affiliated to CITU, G. Kasinathan.

He said that over 200 employees were working for TNEB under contract for the last 10 years. While for the first few years, the TNEB were paying them at piece rate for erecting poles, transformers.

“But, these days most of them are being used as assistance for wiremen and they get some pittance. Besides, they also benefit out of the tips given by the consumers for attending fuse calls,” said Mr. Kasinathan. These workers were not even given daily wages as promised.

Stating that the contract workers were involved in power generation, power transmission, maintenance and power distribution.

These workers had toiled day and night to restore power when large-scale damage to powerlines were faced during Vardha, Thane, Ochchi cylcones in the State.

They demanded that the DMK fulfil their poll promise of regularising the services of contract workers employed by the public sector units.