The All Odisha Cooperative Societies Employees’ Federation has decided to gherao the State Assembly, the Naveen Nivas and the Cooperation Minister’s house on different days in December to press for implementation of its seven-point charter of demands, including 107-per cent dearness allowance (DA) and Government employee status to cooperative staffs.

The federation finalised the dates of agitation at a meeting held here Sunday. Accordingly, cooperative employees would stage a massive rally from Master Canteen Square to the lower PMG and hold a protest meeting there on December 16. The next day they would gherao the Cooperation Minister’s residence, and, on December 18, they would gherao the Chief Minister’s residence Naveen Nivas. Similarly, they would gherao all MlA quarters on December 19.

The other demands are payment of salary as per the Sixth Pay Commission, inclusion of employees in the National Pension Yojana, provision of Circle Cadres for Grade-1 and Block Cadre for Grade 2 and 3 employees and freeing of all cooperative societies from all types of exploitations by the Central Cooperative Banks and investment of 50 per cent of capital in cooperative societies.

Federation functionaries lingaraj Malla, Sarat Chandra Sethy, Shredhar Choudhury, Nrusing Parida, Gouranga Biswal, Sunil Debata, Chittaranjan Samal, Bairagi Barik, Dibakar Sahoo and Subrat Jena were present.

They too threatened that they would intensify the agitation further and even stop giving Rabi loans to farmers and close paddy Mandis if their demands are not met.