Electricity workers are once again on the path of protest against the Chandigarh administration's highhandedness.

Electricity workers are once again on the path of protest against the Chandigarh administration's highhandedness. A protest and a black Diwali have been announced for October 16th. A series of gate meetings have been completed.

Chandigarh 14 October ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : In preparation for the protest being held on October 16th, 2025, in front of Division Number Two, Industrial Area Phase 1, on the call of the UT Powermen Union, a gate meeting has been completed today at the Electricity Office in Sector 15. Addressing the gate meeting, Union President Amrik Singh, General Secretary Gopal Dutt Joshi, Vice President Gurmeet Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Vinay Prasad Bhatt, Satkar Singh, Secretary Jagtar Singh, Surjeet Singh, Virendra Singh, Harjinder Singh, Navneet Singh, etc. strongly condemned the negative and illegal attitude of the Chandigarh Administration, especially the officials of the Engineering Department, towards the employees sent to the company. They also criticized the Chief Engineer, Superintendent Engineer, and Executive Engineer for their duplicity and for deliberately harassing the employees forcibly sent to the private company without their option to protect themselves. The speakers alleged that these officials first flouted the bidding procedures, prepared a false RFP, and then, without auditing the prices of all the properties, sold properties worth crores for a pittance. Later, on 31 January 2025, through a notification, around 350 officers and employees were handed over to a private company on the basis of 'as is where is' (as is where is), without any option/will, like animals, by saying that they were given a provisional transfer of one year (12 months) from 1 February 2025. Even today, after 8 months, there has been no arrival or departure and it was said that the options and representation would be done in a month and after that a final decision would be taken. For which a committee was constituted on 24 February 2025 and the last date for giving options and representation was declared as 30 April. All employees and the union were given the option to adjust with the administration by April 30th. Eight months later, no decision has been taken on this matter, and the employees are being held in a position of power. Instead of the administration implementing the employees' due promotions on January 31st, when the post became vacant, the administration is washing its hands off the matter and having CPDL (a private company) administer them. This is completely wrong and illegal. Until the transfer is complete and during the provisional period, which runs until January 31st, 2026, the company has no authority to promote, degrade, or even issue chargesheets or take any action. How can it exercise the government's power under the government recruitment and promotion notifications, when the employees are neither company employees nor has the company established any recruitment and promotion rules? In these circumstances, strict action was demanded against the officials who granted the company this authority. Similarly, allotment of houses, change of house, medical health schemes, loan advances, and other pensionary benefits are also the administration's responsibility. However, officials are completely shirking their responsibilities, harassing employees and leaving them at the mercy of private companies. The latest example of this exploitation is retired lineman Shambhu Lal Singh, who retired on March 31st. Even today, seven months later, he is being forced to wander from door to door due to non-payment of his gratuity, live-in accommodation, and group insurance. Therefore, in its meeting, the union announced a massive protest on October 16th against the administration's arbitrariness and anti-employee attitude, declaring it a "Black Diwali" and vowing a do-or-die struggle. Union officials appealed to all employees to demonstrate their unity by joining the protest on October 16th in large numbers against the administration's negative actions.