Palli Bidyut staff suspend ‘mass leave’ protest

The programme is suspended following assurance from the power advisor to resolve their issues

The Bangladesh Palli Bidyut Association has suspended its “mass leave” programme and urged all officers and employees to return to work.

The announcement came in a statement issued on Friday by the association’s office secretary, Mahbubur Rahman.

He told bdnews24.com, “On Thursday, the power, energy and mineral resources advisor sincerely assured us that the existing problems will be resolved through discussions. Considering the overall situation in the country and the public suffering, we have decided to suspend the ongoing programme, keeping faith in the government and the advisor.”

“All employees of the Palli Bidyut Samity are requested to rejoin their workplaces. We hope to see this trust reflected in the government.”

The association said its movement was launched in January 2024 to eliminate disparities between urban and rural electricity supply and to ensure quality, uninterrupted service.

Despite several committees formed by the government, it blamed the Rural Electrification Board (REB) for obstructing the process through non-cooperation.

Following a 16-day protest at the Central Shaheed Minar from May 21, the programme was withdrawn on Jun 5 after a written assurance from the power division. On Jun 17, two committees were formed.

According to the association, instead of implementing the committees’ recommendations, REB created instability through “harassment and repression” of Palli Bidyut Samity employees.

Mahbubur said a five-day sit-in was staged from Aug 31 with four demands.

“As harassment did not stop and no initiative was taken to resolve the issues, we were forced to announce the mass leave programme from the 7th of September,” he added.

According to the statement, although around 33,000 of the 45,000 officers and employees of 80 associations spontaneously joined the programme, power supply remained uninterrupted with substations kept operational.

At a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday, Anju Rani Malakar, assistant secretary of the Palli Bidyut Association, presented four demands of the protesters. They are:

1. A notification must be issued to merge the Rural Electrification Board and Palli Bidyut Samity or to form a company in line with other distribution agencies, and all contractual/irregular staff (metre readers-cum-messengers, line workers and billing assistants) must be regularised. Cases must be withdrawn and dismissed workers reinstated. Attached and temporarily suspended officials and employees, as well as those unfairly transferred, must be reinstated in line with the report of the power division committee.

2. Dismissal orders for officials and employees harassed, dismissed, or attached since Aug 17, 2025, must be scrapped, with reinstatement to their previous workplaces.

3. Determination of working hours for line crews engaged in emergency services and reinstatement of five line crew members who could not join duty during the Shaheed Minar sit-in.

4. Administrative action against corrupt officials and employees of the Rural Electrification Board in line with regulations.