Activists of the Bijuli Karmachari Milita Manch (BKMM) have started an indefinite dharna in front of the Southco headquarters in Berhampur to protest against the alleged anti-labour policies of the power distribution company involved in electricity distribution in south Odisha districts.
The BKMM comprises both serving and retired employees of the power sector. Acting president of the organisation, Panchanan Jena, who is leading the protesters, said it was high time that the Odisha government realised that privatisation of the power sector had been a failure leading to exploitation of both consumers and workers.
“During the time of privatisation in 1999, Southco had 2,69,000 electricity consumers, 73 sub-stations of 33/11 kV capacity and 4,400 employees. Now the number of electricity consumers has risen to 15 lakh in south Odisha with more than 150 sub-stations of 33/11 kV capacity. But the number of employees in the power distribution sector in the region has remained almost the same,” said Mr. Jena.
Number of consumers
With the increase in the number of consumers, the total number of employees with Southco should have been around 20,000 for proper service, he added.
At present, Southco is managing through outsourcing which is leading to exploitation of the work force, said CITU leader Yudhisthir Behera, who also took part in the protest demonstration. In stead of using more trained field staff, Southco is only appointing managerial executives. Most of the field staffs are temporary employees who do not get basic labour rights prescribed by law. The majority of these temporary workers serve under outsourced firms and are ill paid. Although the government has decided to regularise temporary employees after six years of service, this is not being done by Southco, said Mr. Jena.
Protesters demanded equal pay for workers serving Southco directly or under outsourced companies. They want all temporary workers to be regularised and provided all facilities recommended by labour laws. These temporary workers face injury and death during repair and maintenance of the power distribution system but are allegedly not compensated properly. The BKMM has demanded ₹20 lakh compensation for the families of workers who die in the line of duty and ₹5 lakh for workers who become invalid due to serious injury.
No power distribution company can provide proper service unless it has trained manpower and Southco should realise that, said Mr. Jena. According to him, by neglecting the workforce, Southco was also exploiting its power consumers, mostly those in the rural areas.
