DVB, employees reach settlement

NEW DELHI, April 19: After a rather stern warning by Justice Jaspal Singh of the High Court, the Delhi Government, the Delhi Vidyut Board (D...

NEW DELHI, April 19: After a rather stern warning by Justice Jaspal Singh of the High Court, the Delhi Government, the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) and recognised unions of the DVB sat across the table late this evening and reached a settlement.

“We have decided to give the employees arrears for the last two years. One way to generate revenue is that any amount above Rs 200 crore recovered from losses will be put in the arrear fund,” the DVB spokesman said today.

DVB loses 50 per cent of the power generated in transmission and distribution (T&D), which is basically due to power thefts. In a massive project launched to reduce the T&D losses, the DVB had recently claimed to have recovered power worth Rs 200 crore. “ Any amount exceeding Rs 200 crore that is recovered would be given to the employees as arrears ,” said an official of the DVB.

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“We will begin by paying the class IV employees first. But we will take care that those employees who have retired and are retiring are also paid first,” said an official. The Delhi High Court last week had pulled up the Delhi government for the impending power crisis in Delhi and not redressing the DVB employees’ grievances despite the court’s advice.

The government has already acceded to most of the recommendations made by the J.D. Jain Commission, which has suggested a hefty 208 per cent hike in the salaries of the DVB employees. Giving a revised pay to nearly 25,000 employees of the DVB from May this year will put an additional monthly burden of Rs 8 crore on the board’s exchequer. This is in addition to the Rs 200 crore required to pay the arrears from January 1, 1996.

D.K. Puri, general secretary of the DVB Engineers Association, however, argued that this was not credible as long as the DVB was run on political lines. “The politicians who control the DVB policies want to ensure that the unauthorised colonies that are soon to be regularised will continue to receive (or rather steal) electricity on as-is-where-is basis. They also want to supply free electricity to jhuggis, to keep their vote banks safe. How can, then, higher recoveries be ensured,” he said.