Odisha Electricity Workers Don Shrouds on Day 41 as 100 Hospitalised in Fast

BHUBANESWAR — Striking power workers wrapped themselves in white burial shrouds on Wednesday, turning a key thoroughfare in Odisha's capital into a grim field of mock corpses.

The demonstration marked day 41 of an escalating statewide standoff. For seven consecutive days, dozens of contractual electricity employees have refused food. Between 70 and 100 workers have collapsed from dehydration and hunger, with several rushed to local hospitals in critical condition. Yet the state administration has offered no formal dialogue. The silence from the state government provoked fury at the protest site.

Shrouds on the Pavement as Fast Enters Second Week

Protesters organized under the banner of the Odisha Bidyut Contract Workers' Milita Manch staged the symbolic death demonstration to compel state intervention after weeks of bureaucratic indifference. Striking technicians and linemen lay motionless under shrouds on bare pavement, daring authorities to ignore their plight.

The union represents roughly 15,000 contractual electricity employees stationed across Odisha's power distribution grid. Over successive contract cycles, private concessionaires and government agencies have terminated approximately 2,000 experienced personnel without recourse.

Dilip Kumar Sahu, president of the Manch, slammed the administration for turning a blind eye to the crisis as the strike crossed its sixth week.

Workers said the lack of administrative engagement left them no choice but to escalate their tactics daily. The shroud protest followed weeks of sit-ins, rallies, and the indefinite hunger strike launched seven days ago.

The Dispute Over the Tender System

At the core of the agitation is Odisha's recurring outsourcing framework. Whenever the state electricity department or distribution utilities reissue service tenders to new private contractors, incumbent ground workers routinely face termination. Senior linemen with years of field experience find themselves discarded without severance or reassignment.

The Manch has laid down three non-negotiable demands: guaranteed job security across tender transitions, an outright end to the retrenchment mechanism embedded in the contract system, and the immediate reinstatement of the nearly 2,000 dismissed workers.

Union leaders affirmed that the hunger strike will proceed with full intensity, warning that demonstrations will spread further across district circles until the government issues written guarantees on worker tenure and reinstatements.