UJVNL employees protest against appointment of THDC officials

DEHRADUN: More than 50 members of Uttarakhand Power Engineer's Association (UPEA) staged a protest at Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) office against the appointment of four officials from THDC India Limited in their department. The agitators claimed this was a violation of their human rights and employment rules of the power corporation were being broken in course of these postings. 

The infuriated protestors complained that the THDC officials had serious charges of corruption against them and they were being given direct entry at senior posts despite their bad track record. 

According to the agitators, service regulations in power companies of the state permitted fresh appointments only at the levels of junior engineer and assistant engineer, while subsequent higher posts are to be filled by promoting existing employees. The THDC officials, on the other hand, will get a wildcard entry at senior positions, prompting unrest among employees. 

Moreover, one of the four THDC employees, J B Singh, has been placed on suspension for involvement in a bridge scam at Uttarkashi. Due to the new appointments, Singh will also now be an UJVNL employee. 

One of the UPEA protestors, requesting anonymity said, "Senior officials should have given matters very serious thought before taking this step which promotes corruption in the department by incorporating corrupt officials into the department. The move will ultimately breed discord among workers." 

"We learnt that UJVNL will soon issue charge sheets against those with corruption charges. If, even after that, attempts are made to retain these officers, UPEA will call a strike and shut down power services till corrupt officials are sent back to their original departments," said Kartiykey Dubey, general secretary, UPEA. 

UPEA members have threatened to launch statewide protests to stop corruption from permeating their department. 

TOI