The association warned that should any further action be taken against any engineer, all engineers would immediately proceed on mass leave.

Bathinda News: All Powercom engineers in Punjab will begin turning off their official mobile phones after office hours starting Monday as a form of protest against the alleged high-handed behavior of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bathinda. The protest will continue until the withdrawal of what they describe as arbitrary duty orders issued by the DC.

In an emergency meeting held today in Bathinda, the state executive of the PSEB Engineers' Association addressed concerns over non-departmental duties being assigned to power engineers, as well as the harsh actions taken by DC Bathinda. General Secretary Ajay Pal Singh Atwal expressed that the DC has threatened engineers with FIRs and has issued show-cause notices against them.

The association’s executive body unanimously condemned the actions of the DC, deeming them both unacceptable and a risk to the region’s energy security. They pointed out that while other district administrations have exempted the power sector from non-departmental duties, DC Bathinda has failed to recognize the critical nature of the services provided by engineers and technical staff of PSPCL/PSTCL.

The association warned that should any further action be taken against any engineer, all engineers across Punjab would immediately proceed on mass casual leave.

Sources also revealed that Bathinda faces substantial pending dues, with at least 12 government connections defaulting on payments exceeding Rs 10 lakh each. The total arrears amount to around Rs 20 crore, with the largest defaulters being Public Health (Rs 12.33 crore), Senior Medical Officer (Rs 1.85 crore), Civil Hospital (Rs 1.44 crore), and Water Works (Rs 1.11 crore). Notably, even the DC office is among the defaulters, with outstanding dues of Rs 34.23 lakh.