The 53-year-old Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) ceased to exist on Monday with the reorganisation of the Board into the holding company, TNEB Limited, and two subsidiaries, Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation (TANTRANSCO) and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO).
A senior official has already stated that the signing of the tripartite agreement would take place after Deepavali. The agreement is meant for safeguarding interests of workers.
In the evening, a host of trade unions, including Central Organisation of Tamil Nadu Electricity Employees (COTEE) and Anna Thozilalar Sangam, conducted a demonstration against the re-organisation. The unions wanted the workers' interests to be protected. The proposed agreement text has given scope for concerns over the pension liability, according to S.S. Subramaniam of the COTEE.
S. Rathina Sabapathy, general secretary of the TNEB Workers' Progressive Union, says that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, while inaugurating the TANTRANSCO in December last, reiterated the government position that there would be no privatisation of the successor entities and no reduction in benefits being enjoyed by the employees besides the continued payment of pension.
