Thaindian News

Chandigarh, April 16 (IANS) Striking employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here Friday evening and decided to call off their two-day-old agitation after reaching an agreement with the government.
After the meeting, PSEB employees decided to end their strike from midnight Friday.

“During the meeting between the joint forum of PSEB employees and the management of the board, Badal assured the employees that there would be no change in their service conditions as they would continue to get the existing benefits like pension, gratuity, leave encashment and other allowances,” a government spokesperson said Friday evening.

Nearly 70,000 PSEB employees had gone on strike Thursday to protest the unbundling of the state electricity board.

The state cabinet had Thursday approved the formation of two separate corporations to take care of generation, distribution and transmission of power in the state.

Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (Powercom) - to manage generation and distribution - and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Ltd (Transco) - to manage transmission functions - would be fully owned and managed by the state government.

“Badal has said that the board has not been privatized rather a provision had been made to run it more efficiently through the formation of two state owned companies,” the official said.

A four-member committee has been constituted to sort out all contentious issues. The committee will submit its report within a month, he said.

In the wake of the strike, tension prevailed in several parts of the state with heavy deployment of police and paramilitary personnel to ward off trouble from the agitating employees.

The administration also prohibited people from gathering in groups and carrying weapons, including in and around PSEB offices and sub-stations.

Manjit Singh Chahal, spokesperson of the joint forum of PSEB employees’ groups, said: “We also want to solve all the issues amicably and the chief minister has assured us the protection of our rights. This two-day strike was a symbolic gesture and we will end it at midnight tonight.”