BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha State Electricity Board Employees Federation will move the Odisha State Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) seeking review of the vesting order granted to Tata Power Corporation Limited (TPCL) for management of four distribution companies of the state.
Addressing the golden jubilee celebration of the federation here on Saturday, its president Ramesh Satpathy said the four power distribution companies managed by Tata Power have not been able to meet the performance guarantees and the targets set by OERC even after three years.
While consumers are yet to get desired benefits, employees of the erstwhile companies of CESCO, NESCO, SOUTHCO and WESCO who became the staff of the Tata Power-managed companies are getting preferential treatment as the company has adopted market-based salary for its own staff and management salary for others. As most of the works of the four companies have been outsourced, workers engaged by the contractors do not have job security, he said.
He called upon workers unions of GRIDCO, OPTCL, OHPC, OPGC, SLDC and the four distribution companies to join hands and fight for their rights.
Speaking on the occasion, Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik said workers unions are slowly losing their relevance as they are not united. The time has come for all the unions to come under a single banner and work unitedly, he said.
The federation felicitated 20 persons for their contribution to the power sector while working in different fields. Power analyst Ananda Mohapatra, OERC state advisory committee member Prabhakar Dora and senior journalist of TNIE Bijoy Pradhan were among those felicitated.
Former OERC Member BC Jena and general secretary of the employees federation Jagannath Maharana also spoke.