A Shot In The Arm: Parents Join Agitating TPSODL Contractual Employees In Berhampur

The ‘sit-in’ staged by contractual employees of Tata Power Southern Odisha Distribution Limited (TPSODL) under the banner of Odisha Electricity Workers’ Association in front of the TPSODL’s office in Berhampur in Ganjam district entered 162 days on Friday. 

The strike got a boost on Friday after the agitating contractual employees’ parents joined them in their fight for justice.

In 2018, the government had promised the 200 out sourced employees to regularise their jobs. Without making good on the promise, the government had allegedly handed them over to the TPSODL. 

Now, the company instead of fulfilling the promise made by the government is allegedly pressurising them to work under a new contractor. 

Opposing the move, the employees have been staging dharna at TPSODL’s office. As their salaries have been stopped, they are having a difficult time in making both ends meet. This, they said, drove their family members to join the strike. 

“Our demand is to regularise us. We are not getting salaries for last six months. We are having problems in running our families. Now, our parents have joined us in our fight for justice,” an agitating contractual worker Haraprasad Bisoi said. 

“The strike by our children has run into six months. They are not getting their salaries. We are somehow managing our families by borrowing from friends and relatives. We have decided to stage a hunger strike till their demands are met”, said Duryodhana Muni, a parent.