PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss has urged that the private contract system in electricity billing work should be abandoned.
In a statement issued by him on this, he said, "The Electricity Board has announced that the work of recording electricity consumption across Tamil Nadu, including Chennai city, will be handed over to private companies, and that electricity usage will be calculated using workers hired through those companies.
This anti-social-justice announcement, which abolishes permanent posts and promotes the contract labor system, is condemnable.
There have been लगातार complaints from the public that electricity charges in Tamil Nadu are excessively high. It was found that the reason for this was that the calculation of household electricity usage was not being carried out on the correct dates.
Since there is not enough manpower on behalf of the Electricity Board to carry out these calculations, it has been stated in a circular sent by the Revenue Division of the Electricity Board to regional engineers on September 24 that these tasks may be carried out for the next 6 months by appointing contract workers through private companies, and that these contracts may be made at the regional level.
There is no secret that the reason for the delay in calculating electricity usage is the lack of sufficient staff. The solution to this problem is to fill the vacant posts of electricity meter readers and revenue division staff.
In the Electricity Board, 73.81% of the 7,590 meter reader positions, that is, 5,602 positions, are vacant. If the revenue division positions are also included, then out of the total 14,804 positions, 7,119 positions are vacant.
Moreover, in the electricity meter inspection officer cadre, 1,073 of the total 3,976 positions are vacant. I have been continuously explaining the injustices involved in appointing contract workers in place of permanent employees.
Contract workers will be paid less than one-third of the salary given to permanent employees. Even then, one-third of that amount will go to private manpower agencies that supply contract workers. In that sense, this type of recruitment exploits the physical labor of contract workers.
Secondly, the reservation system is not followed in contract appointments. In the Electricity Board alone, there are 8,192 vacant posts in electricity billing-related work. If these are filled with permanent employees, at least 69%, that is, 5,652 jobs, would go to young people from the Backward, Most Backward, Muslim, Scheduled Caste, and Scheduled Tribe communities.
This will improve their families’ lives. That is social justice. But contract-based appointments only pave the way for labor exploitation. Third, when electricity usage is calculated by permanent employees, if any mistakes occur, they can be held accountable for them. But contract workers do not have accountability, so they cannot be held responsible. As a result, the problem of excessive electricity charges being collected will only increase and never decrease.
In the election manifesto released by TVK in connection with the 2026 Assembly election, it was promised (Promise No. 2(H)3) that employees appointed on a contract basis in all departments would be made permanent after completing 5 years of service.
Accordingly, more than 90% of the employees appointed on a contract basis in Tamil Nadu should be made permanent. But instead of that, repeatedly appointing employees on a contract basis is neither social justice nor a human right.
Chief Minister Vijay and the TVK have been repeatedly saying that social justice is their lifeblood ideology. Is abolishing permanent posts and appointing contract workers what social justice means? people are asking.
The TVK-led government must prove through its actions that it is a government that protects social justice. For that, I urge the Tamil Nadu government to reconsider the decision to appoint contract workers for the electricity meter reader post and take steps to fill all vacant posts with permanent employees," he has said.