PSPCL engineers to hold protest today
DP Correspondent

Patiala

The PSEB Engineers’ Association has condemned the “attitude of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) management of forcefully getting the support of the engineers for grant of extension to the Chief Managing Director”.

The Association said that the CMD called an official meeting at Ludhiana on Wednesday after cancelling the earlier scheduled meeting at Patiala by calling some selected engineers from Patiala, Ludhiana and some other areas.

“However, during the official meeting, the CMD raised points regarding his extension and asked the officers present there to sign on the dotted lines of a resolution supporting the extension in his tenure beyond the age of 62 years. Similar efforts were made at Amritsar and GGSSTP at Ropar, but strong resentment of the engineers forced the directors to backtrack,” the Association said.

Baldev Singh Sran, president of the Association, and general secretary Sanjeev Sood said the Association had taken a stand on principles against the Punjab government proposal to amend the upper age limit of CMD/Directors from 62 to 65 years and to make serving IAS officers eligible for the posts of CMD and Director/HR.

The tripartite agreement was signed between the government and various unions of PSPCL/PSTCL at the time of unbundling of the PSEB and the Association had supported the Punjab government for smooth transition, they pointed out, adding that now the decision of the Punjab government to change the clauses of the tripartite agreement unilaterally was condemnable.

The PSEB Engineers’ Association has decided to wear black badges and hold protest rallies at Patiala, Jalandhar and Bathinda from 1 pm to 3 pm on Thursday to protest against the proposal of the Punjab government.

Further, the Association issued a written appeal to CMD K D Chaudhri, who has also remained an office-bearer of the PSEB Engineers’ Association, to abide by the principles of the Association and not accept the extension in service in the interest of organisational development of PSPCL.