Contract labour working in Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) and Karnataka Electricity Supply Company Contract Labourers Association, affiliated to All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), have demanded that the contract system be ended and their services regularised.
K. Somashekar, president of KPTCL Contract Labourers Association, told presspersons here on Monday that Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (GESCOM) has failed to regularise the services of contract labourers working for the last 10 years. He criticised the government for issuing a notification to fill 1,840 vacant posts of junior station operators and junior lineman in GESCOM, instead of regularising the services of contract labourers.
However, the High Court of Karnataka in Dharwad has stayed the notification and the High Court in Kalaburagi too has restricted the termination of contractual employees in GESCOM till further orders, Mr. Somashekar added.
As many as 133 writ petitions have been filed before the High Court in Kalaburagi and 96 writ petitions before the High Court in Dharwad seeking regularisation of services of contract employees working in GESCOM and KPTCL.
Mr. Somashekar said that payment was due for most of the labourers for the past four months. At present, junior station operators and lineman are paid Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 a month, but are made to work for more than 12 hours a day.
