Employee Relations at North Delhi Power Ltd.

North Delhi Power Ltd (NDPL) was one of the three electricity-distribution companies (also called the
three DISCOMs) that took over the ailing Delhi-Government-owned Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) w.e.f.
July 1, 2002. NDPL catered to North and North-West Delhi. BSES, a Reliance-group company, owned
the other two companies which took up electricity distribution in the rest of Delhi as per the privatization
arrangement. A Joint Action Committee consisting of members from the two existing unions, both of
which were recognized by the DVB, signed the tripartite takeover agreement that was devised at the
instance of the Delhi Government. These two unions were: the Delhi State Electricity Workers Union
(DSEWU), an INTUC-affiliated union; and the Delhi State Electricity Employees Union (DSEEU),
which was independent, but in actuality was led by a former dissident from the INTUC union. These two
unions were common for all the three DISCOMs. After the takeover, NDPL recognized only the majority
union i.e. DSEWU. The non-recognized union (DSEEU) had gradually become almost non-existent, as
its support had steeply declined after the takeover. Even its President, Harish Rawat, had retired from
service of BSES.

The CEO of NDPL, Anil Sardana, was seen by this companys managerial and supervisory personnel as
a change master and charismatic leader. Most of the other members of the NDPL fraternity had an
impression of him as passionate, visionary, transparent and ethics-driven in his transformational role.
While interacting with the employees after the takeover, he heard an official, V.K. Saxena, in a meeting
who was complaining of inadequate training they possessed, which he said was not conducive to doing
the work satisfactorily. He immediately appointed Saxena as in-charge of the training function; he had
been working as training manager since then.

Before the takeover, DVB was in complete red, having accumulated huge losses over the years. Like
most other state electricity boards in India, its AT&C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial) losses had
reached 53 per cent when the takeover was effected (The AT&C number measures the difference
between kwhs supplied to the distribution company and kwhs realized from retail customers). The Delhi
Government had to subsidize DVB to the tune of Rs. 1500 crores per year.

DVB meter readers were hand-in-glove with power thieves and advised them on how to give a gloss of
legality to power theft. Especially the big power thieves were in connivance with other DVB personnel
and even Delhi politicians. DVB employees, who enjoyed immunity for their misdemeanours, had built
temples inside the corridors and premises of most DVB offices. This was done with a view to preventing
the angry public from attacking and damaging the premises when power breakdowns were not attended
within a reasonable time. The incidence of corruption amongst DVB employees was very high.

Apart from stopping power theft, improving the power situation and enhancing customer satisfaction
were some of the key issues that Sardana took as major challenges. On takeover, he suggested to Abhay
Saini, NDPLs HR chief, that NDPL should begin its change and transformational agenda with an
enquiry into the assets held by the meter readers. To this Saini suggested that NDPL should focus itself
more on future rather than the past. He opined that the companys role vis a vis the employees should
involve making efforts to bring the DVB-scheme employees into the core values of NDPL. A broad
agreement was reached on this strategy.

NDPL soon devised its vision of becoming the most preferred and admired energy company. As per
the tripartite agreement, the three DISCOMs were to reduce the AT&C losses from 53 per cent at the
time of acquisition to 20 per cent by 30 June 2007. Under Sardanas leadership, the HR department
designed and implemented several HR interventions, which among others included: use of performance
management, need-based training, innovative welfare measures, proactive grievance redressal,


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installation of the HRIS, and installation of joint interaction forum (JIF). Saini and his HR department
worked very hard to articulate and implement an appropriate HR strategy for the company in consonance
with the core values of the Tatas.

Rightsizing and Reorganization
One of the earliest initiatives for improving performance by the company was rightsizing. As per the
MOU signed at the time of the acquisition, NDPL inherited 5368 employees from the DVB. It devised an
attractive voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). Out of the total DVB workforce, 1794 employees sought
retirement under the VRS. This included 90 per cent of the meter readers. NDPL gave option to the
former DVB employees to move to the new scheme (called the NDPL scheme). Only 16 employees
opted for this switchover. The recognized union was involved in the rightsizing process throughout, even
as the common worker remained continuously apprehensive. The DVB-scheme employees continued to
be governed by the old DVB-pay-structure including payment of dearness allowance (DA) and pension
benefits as per the Fifth Pay Commission as applicable to Central Government employees. NDPL
employed 600 new employees (hereinafter called NDPL-scheme employee) over a period of three years
to various positions with new service conditions. This included 400 engineers to facilitate the operations
and maintenance work, and 20 fresh or experienced MBAs in different functional areas. There was a big
difference between the gross pay of the employees belonging to the two schemes; the emoluments of
NDPL employees being in consonance with the corporate sector and those of DVB-scheme employees
being similar to government employees. Lately, this apparent class difference between the two had
caused problems in the working of the company.

Rightsizing was supplemented by a complete restructuring and reorganization. The company inherited a
chaotic DVB structure. DVB had some 150 employees in its personnel department who were mainly
handling employees service files, and their salary and benefits-related matters. There was no training
department. Most employees had never seen a training hall. NDPL replaced it with its HR department,
which got into rationalizing HR procedures, manuals and policies. The vision devised for the HR
department was to create a learning organization which nurtures talent and innovation, and provides
competitive environment that makes NDPL the most favoured company to work for. After considerable
efforts, the HRIS (human resource information system) was installed. The company oriented the
organization structure to the needs of the customer. It increased the number of circles from 2 to 5;
districts from 10 to 12; and zones from 40 to 46. It re-defined the structure to ensure the companys 24
hour accountability to the consumer.

The HR department undertook a massive task of writing the job descriptions (JDs) and key result areas
(KRAs) for different positions. Almost all designations, which smacked of hierarchy consciousness, were
re-christened. Thus the designations like executive engineer, assistant engineer, superintendent,
inspector, etc. were changed. The new designations were manager, assistant manager, office associate,
work attendant, and so on. Re-designation aroused considerable resistance from most DVB-scheme
employees including senior officers. On the contrary, some of them felt empowered e.g. when
stenographers and daftaries were re-designated as office associates, they felt excited. All meter readers
who did not opt for VRS were re-deployed to undertake other functions.

Efforts at Change of Mindsets and Behaviours
As NDPL proceeded to implement its transformational agenda, it wanted the employees to be oriented to
performance excellence and customer satisfaction. Being a Tata company, NDPL also wanted to promote
Tata culture by adopting the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM). The first major issue was the
mode of salary payment. DVB was paying salary to most operative and supervisory cadres in cash.
Matters relating to salary-payment used to stagger over more than a week and the issue was seen as one
of the key triggers of manpower wastage. The salary register was a 2 feet wide manual, requiring diligent
entry, which was often not handled to the satisfaction of the employees. Every month there were 500 to


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700 errors in it, which needed a continuous audit system. Several employees were absent from duty all
these days, on the excuses related to involvement in salary payment. The company wanted the salary to
be disbursed through electronic transfer to bank. But the semi-literate employees had a lot of
apprehensions and resisted the new move. Slogans were raised against the management; the union
officials joined them half-heartedly. The company kept two retainer-consultants, Mr. Jain and Mr.
Malhotra, who had recently retired from the DVB as officers in its personnel department. They were
known to have a feel of the employee dynamics and sensitivities. They were seen counselling the
employees on the issue of electronic transfer of salary, and even would visit their homes and colonies to
convince them. Eventually, the employees relented for an electronic transfer of salary.

The DVB-scheme employees initially had resisted the computer system; even senior officers were not
happy at the large-scale use of computers. However, they gradually realized its importance.
Comprehensive training was organized to make them computer savvy. When they became well-versed in
handling these, each one of them brought with him his own PPT presentation in the periodic meetings. A
clear sense of competition amongst zones and districts was visible in the tone and tenor of many
presentations.
Since DVB buildings were in bad shape, massive renovation programmes were undertaken
including making most buildings air-conditioned. Employees saw some tangible gains in the
changes made; working became more comfortable. Safe and hygienic conditions were provided
at the workplace. In the first two years, the company made an investment of Rs. 228 crores
against the required Rs.227 crores in buildings and infrastructure improvement including the
grids. Quality of work was very poor, necessitating quality training. Training for team-building
was designed on the basis of brain-storming sessions. The ultimate goal of each training course
was customer satisfaction through reduction in cost of delivered power, supply of reliable and
quality power, and improvement in levels of efficiency and accountability.

A peer-exchange training program was designed with Baltimore power utility and Columbia power
utility in USA. Later on, 32 people were sent to Sri Lanka, Bangla Desh, Hong Kong, Spain,
Netherlands, and Nepal to learn how things were managed there by distribution companies. As part of the
change of mindset programme, two batches of union leaders were sent to the Tata Steel plant in
Jamshedpur in September, 2003 for 10 days each to observe how cheapest steel was made in the world in
a climate of harmonious industrial relations among 40,000 employees. A manager remarked These
leaders now talk more practical and sensible, and have reflected more positive understanding and
cooperation in developing performance culture. Later, these leaders asked the GMHR, When are you
sending us to a foreign country for training?

Sardana introduced an incentive scheme to promote performance-based culture for employees. Those
who successfully achieved their targets were rewarded with appreciation certificates and target-
compliance mementos. A bi-annual system of communication from CEO was devised and implemented.
Also a Meet the CEO Scheme was introduced wherein each employee could meet the CEO personally
and discuss issues and problems related to efficiency or any grievances. An in-house quarterly newsletter
named Navodaya was launched in November 2003 which contained in-house articles and information
that the management wanted to deliver to the employees. The company also started a suggestion scheme,
but the employees somehow showed inertia in making full use of it. It even provided for sharing of gains
from the suggestions. NDPL also had the policy of posting employees mostly near their home to ensure
that they remained energetic.



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Employee Welfare and Grievance

Table 1: Some Major Employee Welfare Initiatives Undertaken by NDPL
Pre-takeover August 2004
S.No. Delhi Vidyut Board North Delhi Power Limited
1 Medical claim of indoor patient/ treatment
was being reimbursed by DVB after the
expenditure was incurred by the employee
from his pocket.
Forty hospitals were empanelled; no payment
required to be made by the employee
concerned; the employee had to just show the
Identity Card and avail treatment.

2 A Janata Insurance Scheme with a cover
value of Rs. One lakh for accidental
injuries; premium was paid by the
employees.
NDPL got every employee insured against
work-related accidents for a cover value of
Rs. 2.5 lakh at Co.s cost.

3 No forum/platform for interaction between
management and employee
representatives.
A Joint Interaction Forum (JIF) launched at
the district and circle level; monthly and
quarterly meetings of JIF held.
4 Time-bound Promotion Scale (TBPS) was
being allowed to the eligible employees
after considerable lapse of time. Many
cases since 1994 onwards were pending.
Time-bound Promotion Scale cases were
updated. All employees who were eligible for
TBPS were allowed the same on 30
th
June and
31
st
December every yearNo case was
pending.

5 Pathetic working conditions in offices; no
cleanliness and hygiene maintenance.
A number of buildings renovated; hygienic
conditions maintained.

6 Potable drinking water not available in
many District/Zonal offices.
Proper drinking water available in all
District/Zonal offices. Water purifiers were
installed or filtered (bottled) water was
provided.

7 No gift was given to employees on any
occasion.
A wrist watch was given to every work
charge and contractual employee to
commemorate the Raising Day on July 1,
2003.

8. No function was ever held to celebrate the
Labour Day on May 1.
Labour Day was celebrated every year by
observing Industrial Harmony Week; it
involved employee participation in it.

9 No sports meets ever organized Sports meets for employees and dependants


Improving the working conditions, welfare facilities and employee care also became some of the
important concerns. Table 1 reveals an overview of some of the employee welfare and performance
measures that were undertaken by NDPL, and compares them with the pre-takeover situation. In
addition, regular camps were organized for free health check-ups with specialist facilities. All employees
were served tea twice a day or were paid Rs.125 per month as tea allowance. A scholarship scheme with
the upper limit scholarship of Rs.1000 per month per beneficiary was implemented for meritorious
children of employees since July 2003. Schemes were devised and implemented for providing free


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coaching and computer training to children of the employees. It conducted English-speaking courses for
the employees wives. Diwali mela was organized for all employees and their family members. Eye
camps, health camps, and blood-donation camps were organized to promote social responsibility
amongst employees. The company donated Rs.5 lakhs to an Eye Foundation. It adopted Bawana village
as an SOS village situated in North Delhi and paid for books, clothes, toys, etc. for the needy children in
this village.

A Grievance Handling System was devised. Employees were encouraged to discuss work-related
grievances or concerns and use the grievance procedure which ended at the CEO. One of the most unique
features of employee care at NDPL was sarathi, its Employee Helpline for facilitating grievance
processing. Any NDPL employee could submit his/her grievance by e-mail or telephone, and sarathi
assisted in giving a time-bound reply to him/her and also helped in processing the grievance. Awareness
about the use of sarathi was being generated at the forum of the JIF. Sarathi was also aggressively
marketed across NDPL through coloured posters to ensure that employees made full use of it. The
grievances mostly related to issues like promotion, posting, error in pay-slip, administration-related
issues, amenities-related issues in employees colonies, working conditions in offices, overtime, shift
timings and shift roasters, and other personnel matters. NDPL was perhaps the first such company in
India to have started this kind of a help line.

Union-Handling Dynamics
NDPL inherited the DVB workforce along with its two unions and seven staff associations. It, however,
recognized only the Delhi State Electricity Workers Union (DSEWU), which was the majority union,
and not the other one. It also did not recognize any of the seven staff associations. DSEWUs General
Secretary, Hira Lal, and the members of the union executive were cooperative with the management in
the takeover process, and even after. Barring some minor disturbances, the company had by and large
witnessed a peaceful acquisition process.

NDPL prioritized improvement in working conditions. Employees saw this as companys concern for
orderliness in work organization. People appreciated the management initiatives to create facilities for
comfortable work atmosphere. Sardana and Saini took a positive stand on three of the burning issues
which were of grave concern to the common employee. This was done partly on advice of Jain and
Malhotra, the two NDPL advisors on employee affairs. Perhaps the most complex of the three most
contentious issues was of the payment of Rs.10, 000 each to 41 employees widows, whose husbands had
died during service of the DVB. A group of employees, with the support of the union, were restless and
were protesting on this long-time pending issue of widow fund. Employees were concerned that the
settlement should be done from the employee welfare fund set up by DVB which was now the
responsibility of the NDPL. They did not want the money to be paid out of the employee fund that was
raised by way of deductions from their salaries. Sardana and Saini responded spontaneously. They knew
it was a question of only Rs.4 lakhs and agreed to pay it from the companys funds. Sardana declared that
before going home that day he wanted to sign those cheques. Jain and Malhotra were in the limelight.

Soon after the takeover Sardana was flooded with appeals to settle the issue of uniforms for all workers,
the second major issue that was agitating them. DVB had given uniforms to lower-level workers and
white-collar staff up to the junior engineer level. Every year truckloads of uniforms were procured and
employees were suspended for not wearing them. Supplying uniforms to 5400 employees and getting
into issues of size, material, quality, distribution and the related consequences of dissatisfaction with the
uniforms became controversial. Sardana knew that the real issue was to get the employees to work and
perform, own the accountability, develop a functioning organizational structure, and get NDPL out of the
red. Still, he said to the union: Uniforms would be given only if there was a consensus that it would be
compulsory to wear it. I do not want to get into issues like stitching charges, quality and quantity issues,
who to be given and who not. I would like to wait and watch the organization out of red. The other


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option was that the workers could also get monetary compensation, in lieu of the uniform. The union
agreed to the latter. There were a series of meetings between Saini and the representatives of the
employees along with Jain and Malhotra, the internal consultants. The actual cost was Rs. 1172; the
negotiated cost started at Rs.1700 from HR side. After a series of negotiations, the entire body of the
union along with the HR managers settled it at Rs.2700, which was frozen for the next three years.

Promotion was the third most crucial pending issue; no promotion had taken place since 1992. This was
mostly due to lack of funds and the indifferent attitude of DVB officials. Few people had not had a single
promotion for the last 30 years. Saini convinced Sardana about the need to take a positive stand on the
time-bound promotion issue. Sardana put up the case to the Government of Delhi and Chief Minister
Sheila Dikshit. The Government provided the funds for promotions and all 350 cases of time-bound
promotions for DVB-scheme employees were cleared. Saini had before him eighty cases of employee
discipline. Some 63 of these 80 files of employees involved petty matters. Saini thought, Why should I
harass them for petty issues which do not bother me? He transacted with the employees and
systematically closed most of the files; only 17 cases of suspension were still open. He closed other files
as a matter of goodwill.

Since most interest issues were part of the tripartite takeover agreement, whereby the DVB-scheme
employees had protection of service conditions, there was little role for the union in these matters. Most
of its role however related to matters perceived as individual and group grievance. The records of NDPL
showed just two demand notices given by the DSEWU. The first one dated may 30, 2003 contained
threat for agitation due to three grievances listed in it, which included: transfer of union office-bearers
against the tripartite agreement; non-sanction of leave applications of employees; and harassment to
workers who were facing enquiry for alleged misconducts. There was no concrete demand or allegation
in this charter; it appeared merely symbolic of adversarial function of a union. The second demand
charter, submitted on 4 June, 2004 contained ten demands, the prominent among these included:
regularization of work-charge staff; appointment on compassionate ground; promotion as per the
agreement; terminal benefits for the staff who opted for VRS; and removal of fixed charges for electricity
bills from the employees. There was no involvement of the labour department in the discussion of the
demand charter. The union leaders were pursuing the matters with the management.

The latter demand charter contained two major issues i.e. regularization of work charge staff; and the
payment of terminal benefits to those who opted for the VRS. There were 89 employees in the work-
charge category. Since their parents/husbands had died in service, the union wanted them to be
regularized in the first meeting with the CEO. Sardana insisted that they would be taken only if they
upgraded their skills. A special request was made to an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) to help in the
matter. It organized a special 12-16 weeks technical training to upgrade the skills of these employees at
the companys cost. Many such employees were inducted at higher salaries. For the graduate employees,
NDPL insisted on a computer test after the computer training. The employees who cleared the test were
regularized. Some employees who wanted to join the clerical grade without the graduate degree were
refused. Some went to Delhi court while the names of four were struck from the rolls of the company.

The payment of retirement benefits to employees for the period for which they had rendered service to
DVB in the pre-takeover phase was another major issue in the demand charter. It was mainly the
responsibility of the Delhi government. After NDPL announced the VRS scheme and some employees
opted for it, retirement dues became payable to them. But the Delhi Government could not meet its
responsibilities of paying the workers dues even after more than two years of privatization. NDPL had
offered to pay its share long time back. This aroused deep resentment among the retired as well as
serving employees against the Government. Employees of all DISCOMs organized agitation and dharnas
at Raj Ghat against the Governments attitude and the DISCOMs. Interestingly, NDPL management
joined them in their protest against the Delhi Government for undue delay. Saini issued a circular to all


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employees that the raising day would not be celebrated on July 1, 2004 due to non-receipt from the
Delhi Government of the retirement benefit by 1797 retired employees. He also issued another circular
suggesting that the NDPL fraternity would not celebrate Puja and Diwali festivals in 2004 as a mark of
protest against the Delhi Government not releasing the retirement money. Eventually, Delhi Government
agreed to release the money for the VRS-scheme beneficiaries, and the matter got settled.

Redeployment/downsizing of 160 water women in the DVB-scheme was yet another crucial issue. They
had no role in the new organization structure. Their re-training potential towards learning any sort of
technical skills was almost negligible. Sardana engaged an NGO to train them in activities such as
pickle-making, papad-making, etc. at companys cost. The idea, Sardana claimed, was that they could
live a dignified work life and not sit idle. After this training they could engage themselves in these
activities and earn some extra money. The union thought that their vocational engagement would lead to
their re-deployment elsewhere, thus resulting into compulsory retirement. Sardana clarified that he had
no such intention. The union advised the water women not to take this training.

Asked to list major issues on which the union had cooperated with NDPL, Saini enumerated them,
including re-deployment of manpower; helping build work culture; facilitating cooperation with the
common employee; cooperation in new designations; cooperation in settling uniforms issue; unusual
support provided by them in setting up the JIF; and cooperation in implementing the overall change
agenda. He also recalled: Unions cooperation could be gauged from the peaceful celebration of the
May day. Generally unions show black flags to management on that day. But we celebrated Industrial
Harmony Week during that period. In fact, we organized several activities during that week including
promotion of work culture, effecting need-based transfers, organizing blood-donation camp, slogan
competition, and tree plantation.

The Joint Interaction Forum
The company thought of involving the employees in work related to functioning and progress of the
organization through Joint Interaction Forum (JIF) at the district and circle levels. This was an exercise
in employee participation in management. The key objective of JIF was to facilitate better consumer
services and enhancing the consumer delight. Some of the usual issues discussed at this forum included:
workplace hygiene, health, safety, quality, welfare, quality of work, response time, productivity and
maintenance issues, non-availability of basic infrastructure, performance-related issues, inputs on
improvement of processes at various levels, elimination of waste, lowering costs, information sharing,
and skill enhancement of employees through training. It was not meant to discuss issues related on any
interest matters such as wages, salary, leave, suspension, dismissal promotions, transfers and any other
service-related issues.

Monthly and quarterly meetings of JIF were held regularly. The case writer attended one meeting of the
central JIF held at a place some 40 kilometres from Delhi, and two meetings of JIF in two different
districts. The meetings were cordial. Few leaders from the unrecognized staff associations occasionally
made their points which demonstrated some degree of suppressed dissent. In a central JIF meeting the
secretary of the recognized union made a PowerPoint presentation titled: How NDPL Employees Could
Contribute towards Greater Efficiency. He admired the company for its proactive policies and for
sending the union leaders to Tata Steel at Jamshedpur for obtaining first-hand exposure to situations of
unionmanagement cooperation. In all the three meetings that the case writer attended as an observer, a
remarkable degree of dignified presence could be perceived from the body language of the
representatives of employees as well as the management. The companys HR consultant, Dr. S. N
Pandey, who was earlier DirectorIR at Tata Steel, was guiding the working of the JIF.



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Ripples in The Unions Ranks
The impressive working of NDPL got marred by some recent happenings. A serious development
emerged in the form of a new leader who challenged the authority of Hira Lal and other union office
bearers. Elections to the union were held 5 years ago in which Hira Lal became the general secretary,
which was challenged by Harish Rawat, who later formed DSEEU and became its general secretary. The
matter was still pending in the Delhi High Court since then. In February, 2005 Kuldip Sharma, a clerk in
a BSES company and a proactive INTUC union worker, who was earlier in the Hira Lal camp, called a
meeting of the general body of DSWEU and got himself elected as the General Secretary. He also
became a party to the High Court case; and had contended that he was the real representative of the
employees in the three DISCOMs. The NDPL management continued to recognize Hira Lal and his
executive members. About 60 per cent workers were with Kuldip Sharma, and 40 per cent were with
Hira Lal group. Sardana was aware of Kuldips strength. Therefore, he instructed the senior management
not to ignore Kuldip, who was increasingly becoming powerful. Kuldip alleged that Hira Lal group had
lost the support of the rank and file, was hand-in-glove with the NDPL management and had sacrificed
the employees interest. This development had caused a storm in the NDPL circles.

Kuldip dynamics led to many new developments. In September, 2005, Abhay Saini, GM-HR was
transferred as GM-RRG & SPD (Revenue Recovery Group & Single Point Delivery). A new person, Mr.
C.N. Naga Kumar was brought from Tata Power on deputation as GM-HR. While Sainis strength was
mainly in functional HR and HR strategy, Kumar also had expertise in labour laws and industrial
relations matters. What had become a cause of serious worry in NDPL circles was the rising incidence of
insubordination and indiscipline. Some cases of assault and heckling of senior officers by supporters of
Kuldip group came to notice, but management could not take any meaningful action against them,
perhaps due to fear of a flare up. This group became more powerful from the Rehman incident onwards.

Rehman was an NDPL-scheme probationer employee in the head office. One day Sanjay Chhibber, a
DVB-scheme employee in the same office, provoked Rehman and led to a brawl in which Chhibber, a
Kuldip loyalist assaulted Rehman. He called Kuldip and his other supporters to the office. Some slogan-
shouting took place against the management. It also became an issue of DVB-scheme employees versus
NDPL-scheme employees. They went to Sardanas office and demanded dismissal of Rehman. Saini was
in the field. In the heat of the moment, Sardana announced dismissal of Rehman. This incident was in a
way the coronation of Kuldips leadership. When asked about the possible reasons for the visible signs
of dissent in the unions ranks which led to the above developments, a DVB-scheme manager, who had a
good understanding of issues, remarked as follows:

No doubt, the general rank-and-file is very happy working for the NDPL, and feels dignified
also. The company has on its own solved all problems of the employees. Today, the union has no
agenda at all. Compensation matters are all governed by the Takeover Agreement. In alignment
with the TATA Culture of care and share, the company has made ex-gratia payment of one
months basic salary to all categories of employees including senior managers, which was linked
with organizational performance. None of the other similar companies including GENCO,
TRANSCO (the two Delhi-government-owned generation and transmission companies, which
were also part of DVB earlier), and the two BSES companies made any such payment. This has
led to higher degree of commitment of the employees. In the sphere of welfare, hardly any need
of the employees has been left unattended. The common employee has largely changed for the
better. Corruption amongst employees has completely ended. The comparative performance of
the company speaks for itself.

But the biggest mistake of ours was the handling of Kuldip. It was wrong to dismiss Rehman, as
he himself was the victim in that episode. We did that because he was a probationer, and could
be made a scapegoat for buying momentary peace for the company. This issue has revived DVB


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days of indiscipline in some sense. This has emboldened Kuldips supporters, which has led to
greater number of cases of insubordination. This matter has also to do with the difference that
has got created between DVB-scheme employee and the NDPL-scheme employee. NDPL
employee remains glued to the computer and is not so conversant with the field realities. When a
customer comes with a complaint, instead of dealing with it himself, he puts the DVB man in the
front. And, the big difference in the salary package of the officials in the two schemes has also
not been taken kindly by the DVB-scheme officials. Of course, the attraction of the pension
benefits and job security under the agreement had prevented them to switchover to the NDPL
scheme. Only few DVB-scheme employees have got recognition. The employees are not pro-
Kuldip, but they are anti-Hira Lal. They think that he was a party to the takeover agreement, and
they have lost the glory of the DVB days. The key thing is that the performer-beneficiaries of the
NDPL success are somehow fence-sitters and are not taking side of the one who is just and fair.
Unless they take proactive stand, it would be difficult to check Kuldip factor. The disgruntled
elements, which have lost the opportunity to make money due to the privatization, are now on the
rise.

Sardana had been constantly assuring the DVB-scheme employees about the companys policies of
ethics, fairness, and job security. A DVB-scheme employee however, said his message had not
percolated down. He said, The employees remained fearful of losing their jobs, despite the security
provided to them by the tripartite agreement. This was not because of any vindictive attitude of the
management; but they had pressure of performance on them like it is so in any private organization. It is
the unions duty to make the common employee feel comfortable. The DVB-scheme employees could
never dream of an over-protected work-life in the new scenario.

Performance, Achievements and Challenges
NDPL improved its functioning on several operational parameters. The AT&C loss reduced from 53 in
July 2002 to 33. 16 per cent on 30 September 2005, which meant reduction of about 20 per cent in a
period of 38 months from the takeover. A reduction of one per cent in AT&C loss roughly translated to
corresponding gain in companys additional revenue to the tune of at least Rs.22 crores. NDPL earned a
net profit after tax of Rs.57 crore for the year 2004-05; in the first year itself it earned a profit of Rs. 22
crore (for the year 2002-03). In fact, Saradana suggested to the Delhi Government in July 2005 not to
increase the tariffs for the consumers as NDPL wanted to transfer the benefits resulting from reduced
AT&C loss onto the consumers.

The company secured the ISO 9001: 2000 certification for Quality Management System from Det
Norske Veritas of Netherlands for its five departments: engineering, projects, IT groups of technical
services, human resource management, and stores group of operations. And, out of the 150 companies
which competed for the top 25 Great Places to Work as per a survey conducted by the Grow Talent
Company in 2003, NDPL got the 27
th
rank. Comprehensive changes took place on HRM front. Speaking
of the progress on this front Sardana observed:

One of our biggest achievements is that we have been able to secure our right to govern vis--
vis our DVB-scheme employees. This category of employee should have no fear psychosis about
their job security. Yet the environment is one of accountability. The union cooperation could be
secured through our transparent attitude to collective concerns of people, our belief in their
legitimate right to play their role, and our decision to take on issues head on rather than
avoiding or suppressing them

The company got better media response for its performance than had been the case with the two BSES
companies. In fact, the other two companies came under severe criticism for non-performance; so much
so they got several warnings from Chief Minister Shiela Dixit. In fact, some NDPL managers had alleged


10
10
that the BSES had incited Kuldip Sharma to rake up NDPL as the former could not match its
performance standard with the latter. The media had reported that of the total breakdowns in Delhi, 92
per cent were in BSES area and 8 per cent were in NDPL area. Sardana continuously interacted with
Delhi politicians with a view to changing their attitude towards employees and other issues in the Delhi
power sector. Each member of the legislative assembly (MLA) of Delhi was regularly invited to have
lunch with the NDPL team.

While Sardana looked back at the progress made on various fronts, he was worried about the emergence
of the Kuldip syndrome. He was taking stock of the challenges lying ahead of him. He remarked that a
big challenge before NDPL was changing the attitude and skill-levels of a large number of DVB-scheme
employees. While elaborating on some of the challenges that NDPL was still facing, Sardana observed:
We have not yet been able to get 100 percent loyalty of our employees. Commenting on the change of
mindsets that had taken place, a general manager observed, We have been able to acclimatize about 50
per cent employees into the NDPL ethos. About 30 per cent are fence-sitters, and about 20 per cent have
not changed at all. While the employee behaviour has improved for the better, the contractors staff still
needed to be trained and subjected to behaviour-modification exercises. Sardana was wondering how to
make the union agree to the need to settle the issue of water women, who had no role in the companys
functioning. He was also asking himself how to confront the Kuldip dynamics, avoid any major
upheaval in the company, and carry out the transformational agenda further in order to march towards the
companys vision.
_____________________________
Based on the case originally written by Debi S. Saini