'Power generation will not be affected by one day strike'

The October 19 strike called by the permanent workers of NLC in support of agitating contract employees would not affect power generation in the public sector undertaking, a top company official said today.
Nearly 6,000 engineers and 2,000 officers of NLC Engineers Association and Officers Association would not participate in the 24 hour strike starting from 10.00 pm on Oct 19 and would attend all the three shifts, N Balaji, General Manager-HR, NLC, told PTI today at Neyveli.
He claimed 3,000 of the total 10,000 contract workers did not take part in the strike today and attended duty.
Balaji said loyal workers will be given a monetary package on humanitarian grounds tomorrow for Diwali and added that striking contract labourers' were given notice under the NLC Labour Act today.

Contract workers were given an increased wage of Rs 470 per day from October 14, 2014 against Rs 370 provided so far on the direction of Srivatsava, Secretary, Ministry of coal.
He said the Centre has been cautious in its response to the issue as it feels Coal India Ltd has set the benchmark for wages (at Rs 486 a day) and this should be enforced across the coal or lignite industry in the country.
Besides the increase in daily wages, contract workers would be eligible for gratuity, bonus at 8.33 per cent plus ex-gratia of Rs 2,000 per person per annum, paid holiday of one day every month and accident insurance coverage for Rs one lakh for the contract labourers from October 14, Balaji said.

Meanwhile, NLC Public Relations Officer, N Sridhar said power generation today stood at 2,430 mw against its full capacity of 2,490 MW and lignite production was at 86,000 tonnes.