Fate of GEB employees under cloud

Following the split of the Board into seven entities, placement of workers is undecided

With the announcement of the restructuring of Gujarat Electricity Board into seven new entities, Sardar Patel Vidyut Bhavan, the GEB headquarters at Vadodara, has started working in full swing for the formation of the new companies.

Though the decision makers are busy with meetings and presentations for the new avtars, the future of about 50,000 employees remains unclear.

"It has been decided that the headquarters of all the seven companies would be at Vadodara. At present, the senior management is charting out a formula for the allocation of assets and manpower for the new companies. We believe the division will not disturb either the quality of service or the human resource of the Board," said a GEB spokesperson.

Senior officials of the Board were not available for comment. It is believed that the biggest challenge lying ahead for the senior management is splitting its staff in various companies at different locations.

"As of now, the management is working on an equation where staff members will not have to be shifted on a major scale. The board has not issued any transfer orders except allocating about 1,200 staff members designated at Vadodara headquarter," the spokesperson said. The time that the entire exercise will take cannot be spelled out, the spokesperson added.

"On the basis of the tri-party agreement signed between the state government, the GEB and representatives of seven staff unions of the board, we have the assurance of job security. But the GEB management's unanimous allocations for 1200 employees at the Board headquarters has brought our futures in doubt," said B T Dalwadi, joint secretary of GEB Engineers Associations.

In October 2003, the tri-party agreement was signed for assurance of job safety and other employment related issues after the state government decided to go ahead for restructuring in view of Electricity Act.

Recently, the Board had asked employees to inform their priority of the companies in case they want to be transferred. The employees were asked to inform their three priorities for the company.

The representatives of the staff unions have decided to wait till end of January before taking any action against the transfer orders for 1,200 employees. The rest of the employees will be absorbed in new entities on a 'as is where is' basis.