Electricity meter reading employees stage protest

Musheerabad: Telangana state electricity meter reading employees union held a protest at Dharna Chowk here on Tuesday, demanding resolution of issues faced by about 1,600 meter reading employees.

Speaking on the occasion, president of the union Domakonda Sunil said that there were about 1,600 meter reading employees in the state and they had been on strike for the past 48 days. He said that the Telangana CM KCR who had promised to abolish contract system did not fulfill his promise.

The workers have been demanding ESI, EPF and minimum wages but there is no response from the management and the state government, he lamented. While the neighbouring state AP has provided benefits of ESI and EPF to its employees and paying Rs 7.88 for every bill, Telangana government is paying a paltry Rs 2.75 for each bill and has not provided any benefits, he said.

He said that some of the workers had been working as meter reading employees for the last 18 years but had not received any employee benefits, he lamented. He said that although meter reading employees had been playing a key role, they were not given minimum wages and other facilities. He appealed to the state government to view their issues from humanitarian point of view and address their issues at the earliest.

General secretary of the union Thatikonda Venkataramana, union leaders Gurram Srinivas, Kondaku Shekhar, Muneer, Narsimhulu, SI Srinivas, CITU leaders Ramesh, Kiran and others extended their support to the protesting employees.