SHILLONG, Nov 23: Answering to the call of their compeers from across the country, the employees of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) have decided to participate in the protest against Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
The MeECL staff, comprising engineers, officers, regular and contractual employees under the umbrella of the Coordination Committee of Registered MeECL (Employees) Associations and Unions (CCORMAU), will participate in the All India Protest slated for November 26. “The protest will be democratic and peaceful with no disruption to or dislocation of work. All works pertaining to consumers will continue as usual. The protest will be marked by wearing of black badges, sit-in demonstration and sloganeering during lunch hour as well as display of placards and banners in all the Offices and Stations across the State,” a statement said.
The National Coordination Committee of Electricity Engineers and Employees (NCCOEEE) and All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) against the Bill and the standard bidding document circulated by the Centre to the states, intended for privatisation of Electricity Distribution Companies (Discoms) across the country.
“These exercises of the Centre are detrimental to the interests of the citizens. Hence, all energy employees, various trade unions and farmers’ organisations have unanimously decided to protest against such a move,” CCORMAU president PK Shullet said.
Apart from these issues, the MeECL employees, during the protest, will also display resentment towards the “discouraging and unproductive” approach adopted by the management with regard to various internal issues such as “habitual delay in disbursement of salaries, non-payment of medical reimbursement, various arrears, etc, besides issues related to terminal benefits to pensioners, availing of unnecessary loans by MeECL, regularisation of contractual staff, which have caused much hardship to the employees”, Shullet said.