Officers and employees of Palli Bidyut Samity (PBS) are fleeing in fear of dismissal, lawsuits, and arrests related to allegations of destabilizing the power sector following their protest movement, according to concerned people.
Due to the arrests and legal actions, officers and employees of the PBS are unable to remain at the station, leading to uncertainty about the uninterrupted supply of electricity to consumers.
Twelve people have already been arrested for their involvement in the anti-discrimination movement of Palli Bidyut Samity.
A Dhaka court on Friday placed six employees of PBS on three-day remand each in two separate sedition cases filed against them for their alleged role in destabilizing the power sector.
The remanded officials are Engineer Rajan Kumar Das (AGM, Munshiganj), Deepak Kumar Singh (DGM, Comilla), Asaduzzaman Bhuiyan (DGM, Brahmanbaria), Belal Hossain (DGM, Sirajganj), Md Rahat (DGM, Magura), Monir Hussain (AGM, Netrokona).
On the other hand, the court sent six officers to jail who were arrested from Comilla.
Of the six, Belal Hossain was accused in one sedition case, while the five others were accused in the other case.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Farzana Shakila Sumu Chowdhury passed the order as police produced the six accused before the court and pleaded for 10-day remand for each of them.
10 officials sued
A case was filed against 10 officials of PBS for destabilizing the power sector.
Arshad Hossain, Director (Administration) of Rural Electrification Board (BREB), filed this case as the plaintiff with Khilkhet police station in Dhaka on Thursday.
The defendants in the case are Rajan Kumar Das, AGM of PBS Munshiganj, Asaduzzaman Bhuiyan, DGM of Brahmanbaria Samity, Deepak Kumar Singh, DGM of Comilla, Zakir Hossain, Senior General Manager, Monir Hossain, AGM of Netrokona, Humayun Kabir, General Manager of Barisal, Abu Salam Jabed, wiring inspector of Noakhali Association, Rahat, DGM of Magura, Abdul Hakim, AGM of Dhaka Palli Bidyut Samity-1 and Md Salah Uddin, AGM of Dhaka Palli Bidyut Samity-2.
In the case, the plaintiff alleged that some misguided officers and employees of Palli Bidyut Samity are conspiring to destabilize the power sector.
With the help of ministers, parliamentarians and influential people of the previous government, the power supply is being obstructed.
In this regard, the plaintiff of the case, BREB Director (Administration) Md Arshad Hossain did not answer the phone when contacted.
Then Director of BREB (Public Relations Department) Md Shafiqur Rahman said: “Our executive director is well aware of this.”
When the Executive Director of PBS Md Asfouddaula was contacted on his mobile phone, he did not receive calls.
Condemnation against harassment, lawsuits
The officers and employees of Palli Bidyut Samity's anti-discrimination movement have condemned the arrest of officials and their subsequent imprisonment.
A statement was issued signed by AGM Abdul Hakim and AGM Salauddin Ahmed, coordinators of the movement on Friday.
According to the statement, four more people were fired on Thursday night even after the cancellation of the program.
On the other hand, officials and employees of PBS are being harassed and became victimized of harassment last night and on Friday due to providing false information to the law enforcement agencies from BREB officials. Now the officers and employees of the PBS are not able to stay at the station because of this arrest and case. Uncertainty has also arisen regarding the uninterrupted supply of electricity to consumers in such a situation, the statement added.
In this situation, in order to ensure uninterrupted power supply, it is necessary to keep the workers at work. Government intervention is requested to resolve the ongoing crisis. Otherwise, the PBS will not bear the responsibility if uninterrupted power supply is interrupted, they said.
An official of PBS, wishing anonymity, said: "Our 80 PBS branches under BREB have been providing services in remote areas. The number of officers and employees of the PBS is about 45,000. But even though we are under BREB, some of our jobs are temporary and some are contractual. As a result, salaries and facilities are less. That is why we are protesting demanding the merger of BREB and PBS. We also demand implementation of uniform employment rules and permanent employment instead of contractual and irregular employees. But the then government did not solve any problem even after several sittings. Now the interim government will sit with us on Sunday.”
It is known that despite no program on Thursday, 20 officials were dismissed by BREB without any reason and a case was filed against 10 people.
The anti-discrimination movement of PBS announced a shutdown program to demand an end to such provocative activities of BREB, withdrawal of false cases and annulment of dismissal orders.
Later, at the request of Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser of the Interim Government, Mahfuz Alam, the program was withdrawn in response to the call for negotiations to meet the demands of the officers and employees of the association and to assure the release of the detainees.
