Thiruvananthapuram: Employees of the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEBL) owing allegiance to the CPM have launched another agitation against Chairman, B Ashok. The latest strike by the Officers' Association is in protest against the decision of the board to suspend Jasmin Banu, an executive engineer and a member of the association.
After the association announced a sit-in stir in front of Vydyuthi Bhavan, the KSEBL headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the board declared that dies non would be invoked on striking staff. (Dies non is a day not qualifying for any remuneration.)
"Jasmin Banu was suspended for no valid reason. Moreover, the chairman insulted her womanhood," said a member of the association.
But, Ashok refuted the allegations against him. "Jasmin Banu faced disciplinary action as kept away from work without applying for leave. Moreover, Banu, who was in charge of the secretariat section, did not hand over charge to anyone else during her absence," he said.
"There has been no assault on her gender," Ashok added.
Meanwhile, in a joint statement, all the seven directors of the KSEB said that the chief vigilance officer of the board had found after an inquiry that Jasmin Banu had travelled outside Kerala for a week without applying for leave.
A few months ago the unions had waged a strike demanding Ashok's ouster after his Facebook post on high-handedness of trade unions irked a section of the employees.