A delegation of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited employees met superintending engineers (SEs) on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum saying they would not accept the smartphones which were given to them “forcibly”.
The meeting with Western Zone SE Kulwinder Singh, Eastern Zone SE Surjit Singh and Central Zone suburban SE Jaswinder Singh came after directions of a joint forum and Bijli Ekta Manch.
The delegation, led by TSU state vice-president Raghvir Singh, PSEB Employees Federation (AITUC) state secretary Gurpreet Singh Mahiduan, also handed over a copy of another memorandum submitted to the chairperson-cum-managing director (CMD) on May 18.
They said the smartphones would be an “attack on privacy” of the employees.
The leaders said the department started distributing the phones “forcibly” instead of clearing doubts raised by the employees. They claimed notices had been issued to linemen and assistant linemen refusing to accept the mobiles.
The leaders expressed surprise the management and the state government were distributing mobiles worth over Rs 20,000 even as they could not provide basic safety equipment or tools, claiming many linemen were still using a line testers worth Rs 20.
They demanded the notices be withdrawn immediately and the phones only be distributed after all doubts are resolved in the meeting with the power minister on June 5.
