Contractual line crews of 80 Palli Bidyut Samity (PBS) under the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) continued their protests for the second consecutive day on Monday to press home their seven-point demand, including regularisation of their jobs.
Thousands of line crews from all over the country started staging demonstrations in front of the headquarters of BREB at Khilkhet in the capital on Sunday morning and they have been staying there until night.
Additional police conducted drive at the spot to fend off any untoward incidents.
The protesters placed seven-point demand to the REB authority while they have threatened to continue the demonstration until their demands are met.
The demands include all line crews (contractual) should be appointed permanently, no line-crew will be dismissed for movement, no administrative action can be taken against anyone, all those line-crew who died while working on the line, one member of their family should be appointed as regular employee in PBS as per eligibility etc.
REB officials remained unavailable for any comment regarding this matter. However, law enforcement units have been fully mobilized at the protest site. Protesters have affirmed their commitment to remaining on-site until their stipulated demands are met.
Khilkhet Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Kazi Sahan Haque said, “Employees of PBS staged demonstration to assert a range of demands, prominently the conversion of their employment into permanent status. There were no untoward incidents related to their movement. Additional police have been deployed to keep the situation under control.”
