Una: The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Employees Union today lodged a protest in front of the office of the Board’s Superintending Engineer at Rakkar in Una district against the reduction of pay scales of 48 categories of employees.

Una: The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Employees Union today lodged a protest in front of the office of the Board’s Superintending Engineer at Rakkar in Una district against the reduction of pay scales of 48 categories of employees.

Addressing the employees on the occasion, Association state president Kuldeep Singh Kharwara said the pay scales, effective since 1978, were reduced arbitrarily by the board management without taking the employees into confidence. He added that the revision in pay scales of 48 categories of employees had also resulted in recoveries from the employee’s salaries, putting them into further financial hardships.

Kharwara said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh during the 15th general conference of the union had directed the electricity board management to restore these pay scales but said the bureaucracy was adamant on the issue.

Consequently, he said the union had decided to launch a statewide protest on the issue. He said the next protest would be organised on September 5 in case the board management failed to rectify the pay anomalies.

The union president also expressed concern over the delay in appointments under compassionate grounds to the relatives of employees who died while in service. Pointing out that about 950 such cases were awaiting appointment, he urged the management to issue appointment letters at the earliest in order to avoid further financial hardships to these families.