Union seeks reinstatement of 25k outsourced power employees

Lucknow: The UP Power Corporation Nivida Samvida Karamchari Sangh has demanded immediate reinstatement of nearly 25,000 outsourced electricity workers who were removed from service in Oct 2024 under a manpower rationalisation exercise.Welcoming recent directions from the state's energy minister that contractual employees should not be removed without valid reasons, union office-bearers urged the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd management to restore the services of the affected workers.The union said staffing norms fixed in 2017 prescribed the deployment of 36 outsourced employees at urban substations and 20 at rural substations. It alleged that despite a rise in the number of consumers, feeders and transformers, the corporation reduced manpower in violation of norms.According to the union, the reduction in outsourced staff has increased the workload on existing employees and contributed to a rise in fatal accidents among outsourced workers."In areas where vertical restructuring has been implemented, including Lucknow, staffing provision has reportedly been reduced further," said union general secretary Devendra Kumar Pandey.