BERHAMPUR: Odisha Bijuli Karmachari Sangha (OBKS) has decided to stage an indefinite stir protesting the anti-worker policy of the State Government. At the general body meeting of Sangha held here on Sunday, the members said the State Government’s lack of foresight has cost the exchequer thousands of crores.
They said as part of reforms, regular employees have been replaced with outsourced or contractual ones and this has affected the power sector’s financial health.Presiding over the meeting, Ali Kishor Patnaik, president of Sangha, said due to mismanagement and callous attitude of officials, around 90 lakh consumers across the State have been deprived of assured uninterrupted power supply.
There are less than 20,000 regular employees in the power sector, he said. Ali said the Sangha has been demanding regularisation of jobs of contractual and outsourced workers.Odisha State Bidyut Sramik Karmachari Engineers Ekata Manch, OSEB Employees Federation, OSEB Sramik Mahasangha, Western Odisha Bidyut Sramik Mahasangha, OSEB Diploma Engineers Association, All-India Power Engineers Federation and EEFI have extended their support to OBKS.
The workers will stage indefinite dharna in front of the Assembly from November 26. CITU district unit secretary Judhistir Behera, Trade Union leaders Pratap Choudhury, Ajit Patra and Biswanath Nayak said hundreds of Southco workers too would participate in the agitation in Bhubaneswar.