Draft 2

Essel Thermal Power Station is a thermal power plant located around Jabalpur, MP. Essel was founded in
the year 2001 with 120 onroll workmen and 30 contract labour. This was the only power station around
Jabalpur area and would cater to the electricity needs for the nearby locations.

As the demand increased to produce more power, the management decided to deploy more labour
from the nearby villages. In the year 2008, there were 200 onroll workmen and 1000 contract labour
combining different plant units and support operations. Now some units came to existence and essel
catered to electricity needs of neighboring states as well. Essel was headed by Mr Ankur Tiwari.

This power station has two functioning trade unions called WWU and EWTU ( Full name ). Both of them
were registered and recognized unions. Both the unions had raised concerns time to time on some
issues related to contract labor, their unfair paygap, overtime and so many other demands. The
management was not seen making any attempts to settle the demands.

Most of the contract labor working with essel were deployed from the villages around and were
working for more than 5 years. ( 2008+5 Years= 2013) The management changed the associated
contractors but the contract labour continued with the new contractors.

In the year 2009, Essel faced a labour unrest and one day strike led by the union. ( if notice has been
give prior to 60 days of strike) There were some concerns raised about overworked and
undercompensated contract labours. The contract workers claimed that they were working 10 hrs per
day and were sometimes asked to work on Sundays as well. Management found this uncalled for and
confronted the union. They also decided to increase the security and appointed some strong people
from the nearby villages as guards under their security act.

ETPS new plant was commissioned on March 2010. The management decided to start operating to meet
the new demands on Sep 2010. RK Roy was deployed as the plant head. This plant had most of the
unionized contract labour deployed.

On Nov 1st 2010, the HR head Ms Sweta Singh receives a call from Mr Roy. Sweta along with the Sr IR
Manager Shashank Dubey and Ankur Tiwari rush to the plant. There was a major accident that led to an
explosion of hot gases that had instantly killed 10 contract workmen and a couple of them severely
injured. They found that the accident happened while the workers were trying to remove the bottom
ash from beneath the furnace in the boiler unit. The buildup of the ashes shot up and resulted in an
explosion.han Labor

Mr Shashank tried to move the bodies from the accident place but was not allowed by the plant labors,
He was also beaten up by one of the labors. After the contract labours got violent, the management
representatives returned to Mr Dubey’s office. After meticulous discussion on the issue, it was decided
not to call the local police and to let the security team take care of the issue for time being keeping in
mind the brand value of the power station.

This news spread like a wild fire to the surrounding areas, political authorities, union leaders and a few
human rights associations. Annoyed contractors gathered in front of the main gate, started shouting,
condemning the management for the inefficient management, burning tyres and other objects.
After a few hrs, Mr Roy entered Mr Dubey’s office and conveyed that the mob is getting more violent
and is demanding Head of Essel to visit the accident location. IR Manager and HR disagreed, but in order
to not let the situation go more hay wire Ankur Tiwari decided to visit the spot with the security team’s
support. Safety head Mr Satyender Nandi also joined Ankur Tiwari, Sweta Singh, Mr Roy and Shashank
Dubey along with some guards.

The management team reached the spot and started to investigate the site and observe the dead
bodies. Meanwhile mob started man handling the team, inhumanely. Mr Roy and Satyender Nandi got
severely wounded and were immediately moved to a hospital nearby.

The remaining returned to the admin block and settled down in the conference hall and informed the
local police. Shashank Dubey and HR Sweta Singh tried to call the union leaders for a quick discussion
and requested for support. Both the leaders disagreed and demanded them to visit the spot and talk to
them. Upon repeated requests and advises they agreed to arrive along with 15 contract workers to the
conference hall. There was clearly no mutual understanding. The union leaders felt that the
management was not interested in a corrective action but wants to hurriedly close the case.

There was extreme distress and fear among all the workers. The on-roll workers also feared attacks on
them. The villagers entered the plant premises and destroyed the infrastructure.

The next day, the power plant blast news made it to the headlines. National Human rights commission
issued a notice to the govt of madhya pradesh asking for a detailed report about the incident. The union
leaders approached the India’s power ministry seeking justice. The ministry agreed to establish a
committee to investigate the accident. An Investigative panel was created on Nov 6 th by the order of the
power ministry under the country’s electricity act 2003. This was led by Mr Deepak Arora, A thermal
power expert. The power ministry informed the panel to submit the detailed report in a month.

Upon investigation, some safety concerns were found in the plant, no equipments were found to
measure the ash buildup and instead prefered physical inspection which was dangerous. It was also
found that the contract workmen weren’t sufficiently skilled. The detailed report was submitted to the
Ministry on Dec 15. They asked Essel to mend their safety practices.

Ankur Tiwari approaches Mr Rajnikanth Tiwari, then Minister of Commerce and Industry for support.
Ankur requests Rajnikanth to help him close this case with minimal loss for Essel.

////Let's discuss the climax in today’s call. This should be accordance to the industry dispute settlement.
The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970

The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965

The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948

The Minimum Wages Act, 1948

The Code on Wages, 2019

Equal remuneration act 1976

The Payment of Wages Act, 1936

The Employees Compensation Act, 1923

(1) In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,--

* * * * *
1

(b) "Commissioner" means a Commissioner for Workmen’s Compensation appointed under section 20;

(c) "compensation" means compensation as provided for by this Act;

[(d) "dependant" means any of the following relatives of a deceased 3[employee], namely:--

2

(i) a widow, a minor 4[legitimate or adopted] son, and unmarried 4[legitimate or adopted] daughter, or a

widowed mother; and

(ii) if wholly dependent on the earnings of the 3[employee] at the time of his death, a son or a daughter
who has attained the age of 18 years and who is infirm;

The Unorganised Workers Social Security Act 2008

The Personal Injuries (Emergency) Provisions Act, 1962