Adilabad: Two years on, Shalivahana power plant workers still await arrears

The 300 hapless workers of the plant, which was shut down in 2022, have been staging protests demanding the management to clear the arrears and reopen the plant

Adilabad: Around 300 workers belonging to Shalivahana Green Energy Limited (SGEL), which was closed in 2022, have been seeking payment of arrears of statutory benefits and compensation from the management for 2 years.

The SGEL was established on sprawling 5 acres of land at Rangapet in Mancherial town in 2002. It used to generate 6w of power per hour by burning agriculture-waste. It was directly providing employment to 300 workers, while 200 families were able to get livelihood indirectly with the help of it. It was India’s largest agriculture-waste based power producer with 88 MW operational capacity.

---

However, the power plant was shut down as it could not get permissions relating to power purchasing agreement with the government and the management was not interested to continue the plant in December, 2022. Consequently, the lives of 300 workers were thrown out of gear. The workers have been staging protests demanding the management to clear the arrears and reopen the plant.

“The management was disinterested in restarting the plant. However, it did not pay gratuity, bonus, other statutory benefits pending since 2022 and compensation of Rs 5 lakh for abruptly closing the plant. The management is reluctant to pay the arrears,” Kuntala Shankar, the plant’s trade union president said.

The hapless workers regretted that they were struggling to meet ends of the day due to the sudden shutdown of the plant for the last 3 years. They wanted the elected representatives and officials to exert pressure on the management to clear their arrears at the earliest. They said that they were opposing the closure and selling of lands belonging to the part citing payment of the arrears.

The workers alleged that the management was planning to convert the land of the plant into house sites by developing a layout by colluding with local public representatives and causing injustice to the workforce. They accused it of entering into agreement with some realtors to sell the land in 2023, but did not reveal it considering the protests. They feared that the land would become a residential colony soon, shattering their hopes.

The management was unavailable for a comment.