With the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) employees’ agitation entering its sixth day, employee unions have alleged that the corporation is relying on personnel with little or no experience in grid operations to manage substations across Ludhiana’s central zone, raising safety concerns as the district grapples with frequent weather-related power faults during the paddy irrigation season.
Event Context
“Earlier, whenever a feeder tripped, technical staff first carried out patrolling to locate the exact fault before restoring supply. Depending on the feeder length, this exercise could take one to two hours. Now, because experienced staff is unavailable, feeders are being restored without complete patrolling in some cases. If a conductor has snapped or a transformer is on fire, restoring supply without identifying the fault can pose serious safety risks,” he claimed.
Player Focus
The PSPCL has issued notices to assistant linemen (ALMs), who are in their three-year probation period and participating in the agitation, directing them to resume duty and warning that continued unauthorised absence could invite disciplinary action under service rules.
The Joint Forum of PSPCL employees termed the notices an attempt to pressure newly recruited employees and said the unions would provide legal and organisational support to anyone facing disciplinary action.
Central zone chief engineer Jagdev Singh Hans said contingency arrangements had been put in place to maintain power supply despite the manpower shortage.
“Available officers and employees have been deployed at critical installations under the supervision of senior officers. Our priority is to ensure uninterrupted power supply while maintaining safety during all operations. We are making every effort to attend to emergency faults and minimise inconvenience to consumers,” Hans said.
Team Analysis
Addressing a press conference, BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) district president Charan Singh Noorpura and general secretary Saudagar Singh Ghudani said the union stood with protesting PSPCL employees and alleged that weakening the public utility would adversely affect farmers, employees and consumers.
Match Outlook
The ongoing agitation by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) employees received support from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) on Sunday, with the farmers’ body opposing any move that it claimed could lead to privatisation of the power sector.
The farmer leaders claimed privatisation could impact subsidised electricity supply to agricultural consumers, reduce permanent employment opportunities and increase the financial burden on consumers.
They also opposed the rollout of smart prepaid meters, alleging these could increase hardships for consumers.
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The central zone is already facing an acute shortage of technical staff. While regular employees are on mass leave, outsourced workers have been on an indefinite strike since July 22. The complaint handling bike (CHB) teams have also joined the agitation, leaving senior officers to manage critical installations and emergency operations.
PSEB Employees Federation (AITUC) state secretary Gurpreet Singh Mahidudan alleged that, instead of deploying trained grid personnel, the management was assigning substation duties to employees unfamiliar with grid operations after giving them only brief instructions.
“People who have never worked at grid substations are being asked to handle technical operations after being given brief instructions. Grid operations require experience because even a small mistake can have serious consequences for both employees and the power system,” Mahidudan said. He further alleged that standard operating procedures followed during power faults were being compromised because of the shortage of trained manpower.
The agitation stems from employees’ demands for implementation of the ₹35,400 pay scale, restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), release of pending dearness allowance arrears, regular recruitment against vacant technical posts and resolution of issues concerning outsourced employees.
Power employees’ protest gains farmers’ backing
