HOJ, Jun 29: The 48 ITI employees of the North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) started their six-day pen- and tool-down strike here on Monday to press their demand for job regularization.
Briefing the media, the general secretary of the Pare Project Land Affected Welfare Committee (PPLAWC), Bengia Tada said, “These workers have been appointed after lots of persuasion by their parents and family members, but several years have passed and they are still to be regularized.”
Tada warned that if the NEEPCO authority fails to meet the demand, the PPLAWC would “go for rigorous democratic movement for the sake of the project affected people.”
Another member of the PPLAWC informed that they have submitted several memorandums to
the NEEPCO authorities, starting from the head of project to the chairman-cum-managing director, from time to time, seeking job regularization of the 48 ITI employees, but the authorities never paid heed.
Meanwhile, reacting to the situation, Doimukh MLA Tana Hali said “every problem has a solution, and if there is any scope to support the local indigenous people, the NEEPCO authority should consider it.”
Referring to the demand for regularization, Hali said that the NEEPCO authority needs to solve it amicably.
“The authority should discuss the matter with the agitating employees, so that they do not face difficulties during the course of discharging their duty,” he said.
Meantime, Hali appealed to the employees to work hard, “so that the NEEPCO can be able to produce more power supply.”