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| 5 trade union leaders retiring in 2010 may sacrifice arrears on 58-60 demand | | |
AHMED ALI FAYYAZ
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 17: Unable to pay arrears to its 5 Lakh employees, National Conference-led coalition government is likely to settle the issue of current agitation by way of keeping 5 top-ranking trade union leaders in good humour. If well-placed official sources are to be believed, these trade union leaders, who are all supposed to retire from government service within year 2010, have conveyed to the government that they were ready to sacrifice all of the agitating employees' demands, including the key demands of release of pay arrears and House Rent Allowance, in case they would be favoured by increasing the age of retirement from 58 to 60 years.
After Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took an unscheduled meeting with members of the Cabinet Sub Committee on implementation of the six pay commission recommendations at his residence tonight, sources revealed to Early Times that there was fundamental difference of opinion among the Ministers with regard to conceding the demand of increasing the superannuation bar to 60 years. Among the Sub Committee members, Minister of Finance Abdul Rahim Rather and Minister of Irrigation & PHE Chowdhary Taj Mohiuddin are said to be strongly averse to "succumbing to the blackmailing of the trade union leaders". Their apprehension, according to sources, was that it would be widely interpreted as the Government's surrender before "five particular trade union leaders" who are all supposed to retire from service in the next few months.
According to these sources, remaining three members of the Cabinet Sub Committee, namely Ali Mohammad Sagar, Pirzada Mohammad Sayeed and Surjit Singh Salathia, were in favour of settling all the issues and demands of the agitating employees on the one-odd concession of increasing the retirement limit from 58 to 60 years. Their argument is believed to be resting on an "assurance" that the retiring trade union leaders, who would be the immediate beneficiaries of the extension of retirement bar, would themselves pacify their ranks and convince the employees that other demands would be conceded by the government as and when "supplementary award of 13th Finance Commission" would come from New Delhi.
Amid hectic activity more rounds of discussion on Thursday, members of the Cabinet Sub Committee would be holding a meeting with the trade union leaders on Friday.
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