THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After a brief lull, the CITU has locked horns with the KSEB management yet again. On Wednesday, the CITU will take out a protest against the management on a slew of issues ranging from denying dearness allowance to promotions and more. CITU office-bearers said that the KSEB management is taking vengeance against them for opposing the move to implement the smart meter project on the TOTEX model.
What has irked the CITU is that the top officials in the power department had challenged them on disproportionate pay revision benefits. It is learned that the particular official had even challenged CITU office-bearers to approach the court. “The KSEB management is showing its ire against the CITU, as our firm stand that the smart meter project should be implemented in public sector and not as per the TOTEX model has not gone down well with them. Certain officials of the KSEB management would have otherwise got several thousands of crores as kickbacks. Since we played spoilsport, they are showing tit-for-tat by ensuring that our DA and pay revision benefits are called back,” said a trade union leader.
It may be recalled that the LDF government was forced to cancel the smart meter project after the CPM central committee felt that the trade union’s demand was genuine. The CPM central leadership was convinced when trade unions submitted an alternative proposal that the smart meter project should be implemented in the PSU sector. This led them to oppose the TOTEX model project. Following this, the CITU came up with an alternative proposal which they have since submitted before the board which is currently under consideration.
But a top finance wing official at the KSEB rubbished the claim made by the CITU office-bearer. “I’m not aware about the board management raking up a vendetta against the trade unions for thwarting the smart meter project. The pattern adopted by the government has been to provide pay revision every five years which has been practised in KSEB as well. Now four instalments of DA are pending to KSEB employees. Following the Accountant General’s observation that the KSEB employees have already availed pay revision, the issue is pending before the state government. Due to the poor financial status of the state, the government has stalled the DA”, a top finance officer at the KSEB told TNIE.
The other trade unions are also expected to take a cue from CITU and hold separate protests. P S Prasanth, general secretary, Kerala Electricity Officers’ Confederation, told TNIE that the finance and power secretaries had already signed the pay revision orders. “Now they cannot revoke their order. When we are asking for our eligible DA, they claim that we don’t have any right to get the pay revision. They are deliberately trying to defame us before the public by conveying the message that we have drawn more salary which is absolutely baseless,” said Prasanth.
As many as 1,500 employees from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and 50 from Ernakulam attached to CITU will be taking out the protest from Pattom Junction to Vydyuthi Bhavan on Wednesday.