After issuing a 72-hour ultimatum, around 45,000 officials and employees of the Palli Bidyut Samity have sought the assistance of the chief adviser and power adviser, as well as support from students and the public, to address their two-point demands.
If no solution is reached by Tuesday, all officials and employees from 80 Palli Bidyut Samity across Bangladesh have announced that they will resign en masse, and vacate their stations starting Wednesday -- leading to a nationwide power crisis.
The Palli Bidyut Samity stated in the press release that the Rural Electrification Board (REB) and the Power Division would be held responsible for any such disruption due to their failure to resolve the issue.
This information was confirmed in a press release signed by Abdul Hakim, AGM (O&M), Md Asaduzzaman Bhuiyan, DGM, and Engineer Rajan Kumar Das, AGM (E&C), who are coordinators of the Palli Bidyut Samity Anti-Discrimination Movement, on Monday night.
The officials and employees of the Palli Bidyut Samity issued a 72-hour ultimatum on Saturday, compelled by the Power Division's failure to address their demands impartially.
In response, a meeting has been called on Tuesday.
Engineer Rajan Kumar Das, the chief coordinator of the Palli Bidyut Anti-Discrimination Movement, said: "Whenever we announce a program, the Power Division immediately organizes such meetings to create a farce and calm the situation. In reality, no effective action is taken. These actions by the Power Division clearly show favoritism toward the REB, leading to unnecessary delays. We no longer want to sit in meetings with them.”
The Palli Bidyut Samity has been protesting since January, demanding an end to REB's dual administration, discrimination, and oppression, the integration of REB-PBS, the implementation of a unified service code, and the regularization of all irregular or contractual employees.
To press their demands, officials and employees across the country went on a five-day strike on May 5. Later, a meeting was held to end their strike.
However, as their demands were not met, they resumed their work strike on July 1 for 10 consecutive days.
Following this, a meeting was held in the presence of the senior secretary of the Power Division, senior REB officials, and the officials and employees of the Samity, where the decision to reform REB-PBS was made.
However, on August 1, the REB issued transfer orders as punishment for two GMs and four DGMs who were involved in the movement.
When the Samity prepared to go on strike in response, a meeting was called on August 22, but no effective action was taken.
