HYDERABAD: As many as 650 electricity board revenue cashiers, popularly known as bill collectors, staged a protest at Dharna Chowk on Saturday, urging the government to recruit them as skilled workers in the Electricity Revenue Office (ERO) and Divisional Engineer (DE) offices. This will also provide them job security and minimum wage on par with GO 11.
The workers claimed that they are suffering a huge salary loss ever since the launch of the Gruha Jyothi scheme, under which the state government provides free power up to 200 units to all households.
Kolagani Ramesh, a bill collector from Bhadradri Kothagudem, told TNIE, “Before the implementation of the scheme, a worker used to clear at least 200–300 bills per day. But now the numbers have come down to 30–40 bills per day. Earlier, we used to make between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000, but now we earn a meagre Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500.”
On each bill, the cashiers get paid Rs 2.51 from the management. “The contractor (middle person) also takes their commission both from us as well as from the management. If we raise an objection, they threaten to get us fired from the job,” Ramesh lamented, adding that the government should ensure salaries as per the Minimum Wages Act.
Another worker, requesting anonymity, told TNIE that their financial state has been in dire straits since the Gruha Jyothi scheme was implemented. “While in Hyderabad they sit in ERO offices and collect bills, in the mandals they toil moving from home to home, which takes immense effort. These days, the workers are unable to bear the cost of petrol used in their vehicles as well,” the bill collector said.
K Eshwar Rao, state president of Telangana State United Electricity Employees’ Union (TSUEEU), told TNIE, “It is not just a matter of 650 individuals but their families as well. Some of them have been employees for almost two to three decades now. Nowadays, while most of the citizens are reaping the scheme’s benefits, the rest are opting for an online method for bill payment.”
Recalling that Union representatives submitted a memorandum to Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Eshwar Rao said, “The government should provide them job security by hiring skilled workers on a contract basis.”