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| Employees toughen stand on salaries, another three-day strike from Feb 16 | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 11: Lakhs of employees today hit the streets completely paralyzing work in government offices across Jammu and Kashmir for second consecutive day.
After two days of near total boycott of work in almost all offices, the employees, demanding implementation of the recommendations of sixth pay commission, have announced yet another three-day strike beginning February 16.
All J&K Employees Joint Action Committee and a number of other unions, organizations and associations of employees had called for the two day strike demanding implementation of 6th pay panel report and enhancing the retirement age to 60 from the present 58 years. The strike has also affected the work in government offices and PSU's across Kashmir valley and Ladakh region.
Employees have called for another three-day strike as a protest against "non-serious" attitude of the state regarding its committee's recommendations for the implementation of the 6th pay commission.
"We are compelled to announce an agitation for three days commencing from February 16 as a protest against the state's non-seriousness about implementation of the recommendations of the committee the government had set up," a spokesman of the J&K government employees' joint consultative committee (JCC) said.
Apart from the implementation of sixth pay commission recommendations, the employees are demand rectifying of pay anomalies, conversion of COLA—cost of living allowance— to public sector employees on pattern of DA, amendment and enhancement in the Wage Act including increase in wages of the daily wagers and casual laborers from Rs 2,100 at present to Rs 5,000.
On 23 January representatives of the employees unions met the state Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather but the 2-hours long meeting ended inconclusively with government asking for some space in fulfilling their demand concerning to sixth pay panel recommendations. The employees however, rejected the demand as ploy of dilly-dallying by the government and struck work on January 28.
Abdul Rahim Rather said that in case of meeting the financial liability on account of retrospective effect of the recommendations of Sixth Pay Commission, the government has to generate Rs. 3,800 crore, while as additional burden of Rs. 1,380 crore as recurring expenditure would be incurred every year. The minister said that the total internal revenue of the State stands at Rs. 3,000 crore only.
Interestingly, government claims that officers have been attending to their work but most of the offices across the state remained locked for the second consecutive day. However, some officers did attend work in the civil secretariat in the winter capital Jammu.
Meanwhile, thousands of employees also held protest rallies in district headquarters across the state on Tuesday to press their demands. Apart from Jammu and Kashmir divisions Leh division also witnessed complete strike by the state government employees.
Trying to pacify the striking employees, Minister for Finance, Law and Parliamentary Affairs A. R. Rather said that the government has already agreed in principle the implementation of recommendations of the sixth pay commission.
The government has already taken the matter with the centre for providing funds to meet the demand of employees, he said, adding the matter was also being taken with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also holds the charge of finance portfolio.
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