Agartala The Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd. (TSECL) has put on hold 40% of the April salaries of 25 managers, citing poor revenue collection.
Eleven senior managers and 14 managers have been affected by the decision, officials said.
“In the line with the proposal of GM [Technical] and approval of Director [Technical], 40% salary has been put on hold and is not disbursed for the month of April 2022 in case of officers whose names are indicated in the enclosed list,” Director (Finance), TSECL, Sarvjit Singh Dogra said in a memorandum issued on Saturday. “This action has been taken in view of poor performance on account of billings during the month of April 2022. Further views on the release of these amounts will be taken based on billing performance of all Divisions for the coming billing cycle,” the memorandum added.
The punitive measure was taken against those managers who have failed to secure 90% of targeted revenue, TSECL Managing Director Debasish Sarkar told PTI. Tripura’s peak-hour power demand is at 310 mw, while it generates 315 mw.
“The action seems unjustified because there must be proper analysis before drawing a conclusion,” said Subir Chakraborty, the general secretary of Tripura Power Engineers’ Association (TPEA).
There is a manpower shortage which might have caused downfall in bill collection, he said.
The association would meet on May 3 to analyse the situation and discuss remedial measures, he said.
“The TSECL requires around 3,000 staffers for billing purposes but only has 300 people,” officials said, adding, “To tackle the situation, the corporation has gone for outsourcing.”
