Adilabad: Workers of Shalivahan power plant await payment of dues

Adilabad: Around 300 employees of Shalivahana Green Energy Limited (SGEL), which is going to shut down in 2022, have been demanding the management to pay their dues of statutory benefits and compensation for 2 years. SGEL was set up in 2002 on 5 acres of land in Rangapet in Mancherial town. It used to generate 6 watts of electricity per hour by burning agro-waste. It was directly employing 300 workers, while 200 families were able to run their livelihood indirectly with its help. It was India’s largest agro-waste based power producer with an operational capacity of 88 MW. However, the power plant was shut down as it could not get permissions related to power purchase agreement with the government and the management was not interested in continuing the plant in December, 2022. As a result, the lives of 300 workers were disrupted. The employees have been protesting demanding the management to pay their dues and reopen the plant. Kuntala Shankar, the trade union president of the plant, said, “The management is not interested in restarting the plant. However, it did not pay the pending gratuity, bonus, other statutory benefits from 2022 and compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the sudden closure of the plant. The management is reluctant to pay the dues.” The helpless workers regretted that they have been struggling day and night for the last 3 years due to the sudden closure of the plant. They want the elected representatives and officials to pressurize the management to pay the dues as soon as possible. They said that they are protesting against the closure and selling of the lands belonging to the part by citing pending payments. The workers alleged that the management is planning to convert the plant land into house sites by developing layouts in connivance with the local public representatives and is doing injustice to the workers. They alleged that the company has entered into an agreement with some real estate agents to sell the land in 2023, but they did not disclose it in view of the protests. They feared that the land would soon be converted into a residential colony, shattering their hopes. No comment was available from the management.