
JPDCL managing director G P Singh formed a four-member committee on August 12 evening to re-examine the suspension of six power employees, including an assistant engineer. The employees had begun an indefinite…
JPDCL managing director G P Singh formed a four-member committee on August 12 evening to re-examine the suspension of six power employees, including an assistant engineer. The employees had begun an indefinite strike from August 13 to protest the suspensions. Singh said the committee, headed by a chief engineer, will submit its report within seven days and that suspensions will be revoked immediately if the employees are found not guilty of involvement in power theft.
Salaries of a few employees withheld in June and July for poor performance under the PM Surya Ghar scheme were released on August 12. Singh invited striking staff for talks on remaining issues, including a demand for a standard operating procedure for billing consumers with damaged meters. He stressed that framing an SOP takes time as it must conform to existing electricity laws.
Both sides in the JPDCL standoff have a point: management must fix accountability for power theft, but suspending staff without a full hearing feels like punishment before trial. The narrative that employees are shirking duty ignores their claim that consumers bypass meters without their connivance. The seven-day committee report will test whether the process is fair or merely a tactic. Will the same engineers who strike now endorse the panel's findings?
Source: greaterkashmir.com
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