Ludhiana: Power staff begin ‘work-to-rule' protest over unmet demands
Amid mounting frustration over unfulfilled promises and unresolved grievances, electricity department employees across Punjab have launched a statewide 'work-to-rule' protest. Under the protest, employees will work only for 8 hours and respond to any work-related calls between 5 pm and 9 am. The protesting employees allege that repeated assurances from the government and PSPCL have failed to materialise. (HT File)
The agitation is being led jointly by the PSEB Employees Joint Forum, Bijli Mulazam Ekta Manch Punjab, Association of Junior Engineers, and Grid Sub-Station Employees Union, under the leadership of Rattan Singh Majari and Gurpreet Singh Gandiwind.
The protesting employees allege that repeated assurances from the government and PSPCL have failed to materialise. 'We were assured that our concerns would be addressed within a set timeframe, but even after several extensions, no steps have been taken,' said a junior engineer.
Their key demands include regular recruitment to fill thousands of vacant posts, rollback of privatization efforts, better safety infrastructure, and compensation for workers injured or killed during duty. They have also opposed the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission without proper consultation.
'When a worker gives 24x7 service, he deserves equal pay and humane conditions. This protest is our last resort,' the JE added.
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For 22 ACs where Muslim candidates were runners-up (and a Muslim did not win), the average share of voters deleted is 6.3% and varies from 13.6% to 0.63%. Chart 3B(HT) (See Chart 3A and 3B) Have seats with close contests seen more deletions? One could argue that these are the ACs which could be most sensitive to changes in electoral rolls. Once again, there is no correlation between victory margin in 2020 and the share of voters deleted between 2024 and SIR draft roll. Chart 4(HT) (See Chart 4) Theoretically, the SIR could have no impact on actual polling in Bihar This is an extremely counter-intuitive but eminently plausible scenario. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, voter turnout across ACs in Bihar ranged from 38.1% to 68.7%. In all of these ACs, the electors in the draft SIR roll are more than the number of people who cast their vote in 2024. 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