Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 30: Meter readers of Karnataka State Electricity Workers Federation affiliated to Electricity Employees Federation of India who are working under contract basis on Thursday July 30 held a protest alleging that tender term of the previous contractor came to an end on May 31 and so far the new contractor has not negotiated with them about starting of work from July.

They said that they have been working since the last several years on contract basis. During the previous tender term, the federation said that the meter readers got Rs 18,000 per month as remuneration apart from other facilities. The meter readers covered between 1,500 to 1,800 meters every month.

The federations said that the new contractor, with the aim of pocketing profit, has been pressurising meter readers to work with a monthly pay of Rs 10,000 and to increase monthly meter reading to 2,500. This has given rise to fear of losing job in about 25 percent of workers. The contractors have threatened to appoint new meter readers if the current ones do not agree to their salary.

After organising agitations demanding to retain the current salary, approval was given on July 9 to continue the current workers till July 31. The new contractor in the meantime, advertised in newspapers seeking to appoint new workers. The federation says that district in-charge minister Kota Srinivas Poojary, has asked the current meter readers to be continued even after the change of contractor.

The federation submitted a memorandum to the managing director of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd (Mescom). The meter readers said that after working for ten to 15 years for Mescom, it is hard for them to find new job at this age. They said that their pay, which was promised to be disbursed on July 13, has not been disbursed so far. They have requested Mescom managing director to retain them in their current job on the same salary.