THE nationwide secret ballot to identify majority unions in Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) for representation in the Powergrid National Bipartite Committee (PNBC) was held on March 16. PNBC is the national forum in PGCIL where negotiations for long-term settlements on all issues concerning wages and service conditions take place and work-related issues are discussed and settled. It is a regular standing forum.

Out of the total 26 seats for which secret ballot took place, CITU has won 14 seats while BMS and INTUC have won seven and five seats, respectively. The secret ballot regulations provide that to secure all the seats of any constituency an union has to get at least 60 percent votes. Or else, the seats are shared between the unions securing first and second positions. On the basis of the number of workmen in each constituency, the number of seats is fixed. The management side is represented in PNBC by heads of all the regions and all the HR heads. The chairman of PNBC is the Director (Personnel) and Member Secretary is the Executive Director (HR).

It is significant to note that CITU has got representations in all the five regions -- North Eastern, Eastern, Northern, Western, and Southern -- while BMS has got representation in Northern and Western regions and INTUC in Eastern and Northern regions only. In the constituencies of Southern Region-I and Southern Region-II, CITU has got 83 percent and 87 percent votes, respectively, despite BMS and INTUC joining hands against it. Despite extreme hostile political situation, our union in Northern Region-I, with jurisdiction of Uttar Pradesh and two BJP-ruled states of Rajasthan and Haryana, has achieved the first position securing 58 percent votes. The message that emerges from this experience is that regular effective democratic functioning of our trade unions can deliver results overcoming hostile socio-political environment. The secret ballot system was introduced in PGCIL 15 years ago and it takes place every five years. Since introduction, CITU has been winning more than 50 percent seats without exception.

PGCIL is a Navratna power transmission CPSU. It has built a huge power transmission network extending 1,13,841 ckm, connecting 189 electrical sub-stations across the country. It has also established most modern technology based regional load dispatch centres. Through this vast network, PGCIL has established national grid connectivity facilitating transmission of power from surplus generation regions to deficit regions, which is called ‘power from resource centric regions to load centric regions’. As a corollary to this achievement, the CPSU has achieved national grid connectivity, which is called ‘One Nation-One Grid-One Frequency’. The most magnificent achievement of this power CPSU is the establishment of National Control Centre or NLDC at Manesar, Haryana with the technological capability to control 192 electrical sub-stations. It is said that “Western countries do not have such a large grid. India has the largest synchronised single grid while even China or US, has multiple grids.” The total number of workers in PGCIL is around 5,000. They are engaged in 189 electrical sub-stations and transmission lines spread all over the country, five regional load dispatch centres, the Corporate Centre in Gurgaon, and regional headquarters, situated mostly in state capitals.

PGCIL is an ultra modern technology driven Central Power Transmission Utility. The number of workmen spread over the electrical sub-stations are very low (ranging roughly between 10 and five workers in each sub-station) whereas the distance between two connecting sub-stations ranges from150 to 300 kilometers. Therefore, conducting election campaign was a very difficult task. On occasions, we had to travel around 300 km by road to reach a sub-station to address five workers! But certainly it was a very good opportunity to meet the grassroot level workers and witness usage of high-end technology in such a strategic industry. Another important factor is to prioritise the essential needs and concern of young workers. In fact, in Southern Region-II we have organised the young workers very well and in this region our result, as noted above, has been the best. On the contrary, our success in Western Region is very poor.