ROHTAK, Sept 22: The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited has ordered that employees against whom cases under ESMA have been lodged or are contemplated will not be allowed to join duty.Thus, nearly 2,000 employees against whom cases under ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1974) have been registered were not allowed to mark their attendance today, said S. D. Kapoor, president of the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh, and Bharat Bhushan, secretary of the Haryana State Electricity Board Workers Union.They alleged that cases have been registered against selected persons.Agitated employees resorted to ``halla bol abhiyan''. They tried to gherao H K Sharma, superintending engineer, but he managed to slip away. Kapoor said ``halla-bol'' will be held in Kurukshetra on September 24 and in Ambala on September 25.He said no action was taken against the teachers who defied ESMA, or against the nurses, public health workers and DRDA workers who on went on strike. Why single out Nigam employees?Surprisingly, the employees against whom cases have been registered had marked their attendance on September 17 and 18. September 19 to 21 were holidays.The order issued by the additional secretary said that employees who were arrested under Sections 107/150 (preventive arrests) may be allowed to join duty. Employees who had joined the strike but against whom cases under ESMA have neither been lodged nor contemplated may be allowed to resume duty. But the principle of ``no work no wages'' should be complied with in letter and spirit.The Union leaders of Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh met here on September 20 to chalk out their strategy. They plan to hold district level conventions in Hisar on October 13, Rohtak on October 15, Ambala on October 23 and Gurgaon on October 27.They have also decided that a group of about 150 workers will start a procession from four places Dabwali, Kalka, Hodel, and Jal Karan Balhara. They will educate villagers about the privatisation of power and roadways sectors. They will reach Rohtak on November 15 to participate in the rally.This is the first stage of their action plan. The second stage will be announced on November 15.The Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh had given a call for chakka jam on September 16 which failed to evoke much response.Bhushan and Kapoor said that the government had spent Rs 12.50 crore to make the stir fail. They said that the Nigam had sanctioned Rs 25,000 for every Executive Engineer (Operations) as expenditure related to the one-day strike. There were 500 Executive Engineers in the state. Thus, the government had spent 12.50 crore in one day to prove that the strike had failed.
