Tribune News Service
Patiala, April 17
The executive committee of the PSEB Engineers’ Association (PSEBA) held a dharna in front of the head office of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in Patiala against the non-fulfillment of their demands.
More than 80 engineers, including all executive members, took part in the dharna under the leadership of association president Sanjeev Sood, senior vice-president Harjinder Singh Bansal and other office-bearers. The main issues included the delay in paying initial salary of Rs 18,030 to all assistant engineers, shrinking share of the state in power generation due to the closure of thermal plants at Bathinda and Ropar and the non-operationalisation of the captive coal mine allotted to Punjab. They also raised employment-related issues.
Speaking on the occasion, Sanjeev Sood pointed out that instead of resolving these issues, the PSPCL/PSTCL authorities were delaying the resolution of the issues already discussed during a meeting in December last year. “Huge resentment prevails among power engineers due to the indifferent attitude of the PSPCL/PSTCL management regarding the pending issues, particularly starting the initial pay of Rs 18,030 to remaining assistant engineers, which was cleared by the previous government,” he said.
“Now the management is dilly-dallying in implementing the promises,” said Sanjeev Sood.
Further, the executive committee decided that if the issues raised by the engineers’ association were not resolved in a time-bound manner, the agitation would be intensified.