THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The five-day-long strike by pro-Left unions in KSEB was withdrawn on Saturday following the understanding reached between trade union leaders and CMD B Ashok. Trade unions have claimed victory in the protest as their major demand for pulling out State Industrial Security Force (SISF) from Vydyuthi Bhavan, Pattom, was accepted by the management.
During the talks, the CMD agreed to withdraw the SISF from seven sections at the KSEB headquarters including from the gates, main entrance and CMD’s office. The SISF will now be deployed only at the high security region of data centre on the second floor and at the sub-centre of the State Load Dispatching Centre (SLDC) functioning at the tenth floor of the headquarters. The trade unions also got the assurance from the management that follow-up talks will be held every month. There won’t be any disciplinary action against the protesting trade union leaders. It has also been decided to constitute a joint co-ordination committee of trade unions and the committee will meet once every month to discuss the condition of finances of the board.
“With the CMD agreeing to our demands, the three circulars which he had issued against the trade unions have automatically got cancelled. Ashok had come out with an order stating that KSEB Officers’ Association (KSEBOA) cannot hold protests or agitations as we are a part of the management. Ashok’s earlier threat of stringent action against those protesting staff has also been taken away and the circular banning our protests stand cancelled”, M G Suresh Kumar, president, KSEBOA told TNIE.
The protesting trade unions did not hide their disappointment in front of the CMD for not calling for a joint sitting of the employees’ union and officers’ union for conciliatory talks. The recognised Left trade unions and registered officers’ associations were separately called for meeting with the CMD on Saturday. The protest by the trade unions had not gone down well with the LDF Government as it felt that the dent caused in the image of the power ministry cannot be washed off easily. Prior to Saturday’s talks with the trade unions and CMD, two rounds of talks in which Minister K Krishnankutty and senior LDF leaders attended were held. Those meetings had drafted a compromise formula that got formalised in Saturday’s discussions.
Ashok withdraws controversial FB post
T’Puram: Kerala State Electricty Board Limited CMD B Ashok on Saturday withdrew his controversial Facebook post that had invited strong opposition from trade unions and former power minister M M Mani. In his brief post, Ashok said he withdrawn his post dated February 14 since the issues he had raised had been resolved through deliberations. He also said there had been certain discrepancies in his earlier post. Following Mani’s criticism, Power Minister K Krishnankutty had ordered a probe by the power secretary on the allegations raised by Ashok.