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| Employees begin 5 days strike today | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 8: With the state government's eleventh hour bid to avert a employees strike failing, the state machinery is all set to come to a halt from Tuesday for five days as the lakhs of employees would go on strike across the State tomorrow.
The Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), a conglomerate of several government employees' unions, turned down the request by the administration on Monday to withdraw the strike call.
The employees are demanding the release of arrears accruing to them from the implementation of the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, and enhancing the retirement age by two years, apart from issues like dearness allowance and regularization.
Their leaders claim that the government had reached an agreement last August on conceding their demands, but had gone back on its word with the deadline having expired long back.
Reports said that the commissioner for the General Administrative Department, Basharat Ahmad Dhar, had made direct contact with JCC leader Abdul Qayoom Wani, asking him to call off the strike.
According to JCC spokesman, Farooq Ahmad Trali, the JCC rejected the request, stressing to continue its struggle until the government held result-oriented talks to concede their demands.
The JCC has set up a control room in the Municipal Union office, and formed flying squads to monitor the strike that would continue till March 13.
The principal secretary to the chief minister, Khursheed Ahmad Ganai, termed the JCC strike as "unfortunate," saying that the government had already conveyed to the employees that their demands were under consideration.
"The chief minister has already assured in both houses of the legislature that the employees' demands would be viewed considerately, and clarified that the doors were not closed on the main issue of enhancing the retirement age," Ganai said.
"The employees should respect the assurances of the chief minister and cooperate with the government as their demands will be conceded as soon as the state's finances improve," he said.
When asked whether the government had made any contact with the employees lately, Ganai said that a top-level government team, which had included the commissioner secretary for finance and himself, had "laid everything before" the employee leaders, with which, he said, the latter had agreed.
"But recent developments are regrettable," he said.
According to the principal secretary, the secretariat union had acted on the government's assurances, and there would be no strike in the secretariat from tomorrow.
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