Power board staff to wear black badges

Our Correspondent

Nurpur, May 18

Himachal State Electricity Board Ltd. (HPSEBL) employees have decided to wear black badges on May 20 in protest against the state government for not declaring them Corona warriors and also not giving them preference in vaccination.

Kuldeep Kharwara, state president of the HPSEBL Employees Association, in a statement issued here today, said that the Punjab Government had declared its electricity employees as Corona warriors. He added the Himachal government should follow Punjab, or else all board employees would lodge their protest against its apathy coming Thursday.

Kharwara said that electricity supply was one of the essential government services without which health services, industry production and online classes were not possible. “A large number of board employees and outsourced workers have lost their lives due to Covid while discharging their duties. The board employees were not given gloves, masks and sanitisers, as announced by the HPSEBL management. This shows the apathy of the state government towards the board employees, who have been discharging their duties in the pandemic times to ensure uninterrupted power supply to people,” he lamented.

He appealed to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to declare all board employees as Corona warriors and ensure their vaccination at the earliest.