Telangana: 23,000 outsourced artisans in power utilities to be regularised

The state high court on Tuesday struck down a petition challenging regularisation of services of outsourced artisans working in electricity organisations.

With this, the process to regularise 23,000 artisans working in Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited, Transmission Corporation of Telangana Limited, Southern Power Distribution Company of A.P Limited, Northern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited has been cleared.

Caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao also extended support to regularise the services of artisans and recognise them as regular employees. He instructed the electricity department officials to do the same for artisans who have been working for a long time on an outsourced basis in the department.

As per Rao's instructions, the department regularised the services of 23,000 artisans. However, the decision was challenged in the high court.

The advocates arguing on behalf of the electricity department argued that it is not correct to oppose the human angle decision of the government to regularise their services and the problems faced by the artisans. They also said that artisans work hard to supply quality power, following which the petition was struck down.

Soon after the decision was taken, KCR said, "We took the decision with a human approach to regularise their services and it is happy that the High Court supported the decision. The decision of High Court brought a festive atmosphere to 23,000 artisans. The outsourced employees should not be subjected to exploitation and should live with better living standards."

The Chief Minister also greeted the artisans whose services are to be regularised.

Chairman and Managing Director, Vidyut Soudha, Prabhakar Rao also expressed happiness over the High Court judgement and clarified that the artisans would be treated as regular employees.