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| Govt must comfort, not confront its employees | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 6: The government employees' strike continued for the second day Saturday across the state as thousands of government employees stayed away from work adding to the already piling up mounds of pending files in various government offices.
Under the banner of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), the state government employees have succeeded in bringing the business of governance to a grinding halt across Jammu and Kashmir. Employees also held protests at all the district headquarters in the state. They have now threatened the third phase of their agitation which will definitely result in a non-negotiable confrontation between the striking employees and the state government.
There are around 4.5 lakh government employees in the state and to this must be added those working in various public sector undertakings and semi government organizations.
What are the demands raised by the state government employees which the government is unable to concede? The striking employees are demanding payment of arrears as per the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission.
Ironically, the state government has already conceded this demand so there is no question of this demand being a bone of contention between the striking employees and the government. All that the government has to do to satisfy the striking employees with respect to this demand is that they have to announce a timeframe and a system of payment with regard to the payment of arrears to the employees which have already been earned by them due to the revised salary structures.
The striking employees are asking the government to keep its own promises and not to make any further promise in this regard. What credibility would a government in power have in the eyes of the common man if it loses face in the eyes of its own employees?
Thus, it is in the government's own interest to break the impasse and without any further delay announce a calendar of payment with regard to the payment of arrears as per the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission.
Pretexts that the state government does not have the financial resources to pay the arrears would not work since the government employees are privy to huge payments made on account of aviation fuel, TA/DA etc to senior bureaucrats and myriad other expenses which should have waited if the government was seriously handicapped on account of funds.
If the state chief secretary admits that this demand has already been accepted by the government and the method of payment of arrears to the employees has also been agreed upon mutually by the government and its employees, then why the impasse? Why does not the government issue a white paper if its kingpin, the state chief secretary says the demand has already been agreed and negotiated between the two parties? The government should not hide behind technicalities. It needs to come out clean. Are the striking employees out of their mind to raise a demand which has already been accepted and modalities thereof worked out between them and the government?
It is not the time to sit on prestige for either the government or the striking employees. Both sides have to bear in mind that the people of the state are already suffering because of the colossal red tape which stares them in the eyes like a demon each time they enter a government office. The face off between the government employees and the government would only make matters worse for the common man.
Besides, let us not try to deceive ourselves by parroting the song of industrial economy of the state. The fact of the matter is that the engine of the state's economy, so far as its sustenance part is concerned, is driven by the monthly income of the government employees. It is mainly because of the salaries paid to the government employees that majority of families in the state are able to keep the wolf away from their door.
The population of the state as per the latest census is around 1.26 crores. Overwhelmingly majority of this population does not derive its sustenance from either agriculture or industry, the painful fact is that they derive their sustenance from the wages earned by 4.5 lakh government employees plus half this number that works in semi government organizations, public sector undertakings etc. The local business class also earns its livelihood as their principal buyer is the state government employee.
Let not the government for good or bad reasons come into direct confrontation with the people of the state by confronting its own employees. Compassion, consideration and care should be the mantra when the government deals with its own employees. Having them arrested, baton charged or doused in coloured water pumped through water cannons is no solution. That could be the big problem. |
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