KPTCL staff reject talks: Karnataka's power supply likely to be hit from March 15

Power supply is likely to be hit in the state from Thursday onwards as employees of the KPTCL and electricity supply companies have rejected Energy Minister V Sunil Kumar's calls for negotiations on a pay raise.

The strike call is another bad news for the state government, just weeks before the Assembly elections. The Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) have already vowed to go on strike from March 21 onwards for better pay.

R H Lakshmipathi, president of the Karnataka Electricity Board Employees' Union and Association, said that they would go ahead with the strike and there was nothing to negotiate.

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"The KPTCL Board and the Energy minister had agreed to a pay rise of 22 per cent effective from April 2022. But they have gone back to their word. A recent order offered a pay hike of 12 per cent -15 per cent. We are only asking them to stick to the decision approved by the Finance department and the Board," he told DH.

The Federation touts 60,000 employees from five Escoms among its members. The strike has the potential to disrupt the power supply across the state.

"We do not want to inconvenience the public. But we are left with no other option because we have been waiting for a year now," said Dr Govindaswamy, secretary of the Federation.

Rejecting the claims that the employees of the energy sector are paid higher than those in other government departments, Govindaswamy said that they worked under immense pressure.

"The nature of our work is not like other departments. Every hour, there is an accident and many of our linemen have lost their lives," he said. "We work round the clock, unlike the staff in other departments."