Thirumavalavan opposes plan to outsource reading of electricity meters
He attributes the problem to shortage of staff and urges the T.N. government to fill vacancies in TNPDCL through internal recruitment
VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan warned the Tamil Nadu government on Monday against plans to outsource electricity meter reading to private firms, and to fill power distribution vacancies through external hiring. In a statement, he said the state's 3.52 crore electricity users were facing more outages, delays in meter reading and billing mistakes due to staff shortages.
He pointed to the department's White Paper, which revealed 53,575 posts were vacant, with 20,449 positions to be filled, including 12,500 multi-purpose field assistants and 945 technical staff. Thirumavalavan criticized the move to outsource meter reading as an attempt to privatize the utility. He also mentioned the lack of substation operators, with about 1,800 posts unfilled.
He noted that 600 employees who passed the internal recruitment for technical assistant roles were still awaiting appointment, and urged the government to prioritize appointing these experienced staff first for the 945 vacancies planned for this year.
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