Chandigarh warns power staff of action

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 24

The UT Administration has warned employees of the Electricity Department of salary cut and disciplinary action if they go for strike on Thursday. The UT Powermen Union has given a call for observing a one-day strike on November 26.

An official spokesperson stated that the UT Administration had always been sympathetic to the genuine demands of the electricity employees and there was no cause for any strike by them.

The principle of “no work no pay” would be strictly enforced and the employees were, therefore, advised to attend duty, said the spokesperson, adding that defaulting employees would also be liable for other disciplinary action.

Necessary arrangements had been made to maintain the continuity of power supply, but chances of failure of power supply due to any untoward incident could not be ruled out, he said.

The Administration requested electricity consumers to kindly cooperate with the authorities. The public is requested, in general, to contact various complaint centres in their area for electricity complaints. They can also contact the control room. The public is also requested to keep a vigil on electricity lines. In case they find anyone indulging in sabotaging the power supply, they may inform the police control room.

The union is up against the UT Administration over privatisation of the department. The union stated that the Electricity Department was relatively maintaining good supply of electricity at reasonable rates without any gap of revenue in purchase and sale within the permissible transmitting loses and there was no reason to privatise the department at all.

They said the government was hell-bent on privatising the department despite being in huge profit for the past several years.