Power Board Employees Protest in HP Over Delay in Salary and Pension

Shimla, January 2: Employees of the state’s electricity board expressed their discontent over the non-payment of salaries and pensions, leading to demonstrations during the lunch break. The Joint Struggle Committee staged a protest outside the board’s headquarters at Kumar House, raising slogans against the financial mismanagement by the board’s management. The demand for the appointment of a permanent director for financial management was also voiced during the lunch break protest.

The Joint Struggle Committee, led by convenor Engineer Lokesh Thakur and co-convenor Heera Lal Verma, highlighted that the temporary management director has been overseeing the board’s operations for the past nine months, adversely affecting the functioning of the board. Consequently, salaries and pensions for board employees and retirees were not disbursed on January 1. The committee emphasized that around 50,000 families are associated with the electricity board and are suffering due to the flawed functioning of the current management.

Both conveners urged the government to appoint a permanent director for the board to streamline its financial management. The committee issued a warning on January 6, threatening to escalate the protest to a state-level agitation if the issue of salary and pension non-payment persists.

Before the protest, a strategy was chalked out during the Joint Struggle Committee meeting of board employees and engineers. Concerns were raised regarding the delayed reinstatement of the old pension scheme in the board, citing the need for the state government to implement the necessary amendments legally. The committee also demanded the immediate commencement of construction work on four small hydroelectric projects allocated to Chamba.

Union leaders pointed out that Cabinet Ministers Rajesh Dharamani and Yadavendra Goma have not yet taken charge of their respective departments post their swearing-in. They emphasized that IAS officer Harikesh Meena, along with the director of energy and the managing director of the power corporation, holds the responsibility for three significant departments, leading to the financial distress of the board.