Hyderabad: Telangana power sector employees have called off a proposed indefinite strike that was to start on June 15. The cancellation is the result of successful talks with Energy Minister G. Jagadish Reddy and senior officials from Genco, Transco and the Discoms.
Electricity Employees Trade Unions Front leader E. Sridhar said their main demand of regularising the services of 1,100 contract linemen was agreed upon by the government. Also, an assurance was given that outsourcing employees will receive their salaries directly from the department instead of from outsourcing agencies – causing irregularities.
The minister said the Chief Minister responded to the demands positively even though the unions had “acted in haste by serving the strike notice”.
Another demand was the payment of ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh to outsourcing employees who lose their lives while on duty. The minister said the amount was Rs 2 lakh before division of Andhra Pradesh. It was raised to Rs 5 lakh after the TS government came into office. "We have agreed to increase it to Rs 10 lakh,” he said.
