As per the call given by the All India Gramin Dak Sevak Union (AIGDSU), the members of the local unit held its second phase of agitation in support of their demands on Thursday.
The members of the union staged the day long dharana in the office premises of Chief Post Master General of Odisha circle at Bhubaneswar and registered their protest against apathy. All the eighteen divisional secretaries and representatives from all over the State participated in the strike, said Circle president Parsuram Das.
There are around 2, 10,000 Gramin Dak Sevakas (GDS) currently working in the Department of Posts all over the country. Though the Postal services have completed 150 years of its existence in the country, the Union Government is yet to declare these GDSs as Government employees which is quite deplorable.
These employees are struggling hard for their livelihood and are being deprived of their legitimate dues, said circle secretary Kalpabata Pattnaik. These Gramin Dak Sevakas who are low paid staff and work hard at the grassroots levels of postal communication system are often passing through fiscal trauma besides facing a threat of losing job anytime, said president of AIGDS, Odisha Circle PR Das.
The union submitted a memorandum to Director General of Posts, New Delhi.
The demands include grant of civil servant status to GDS employees; time bound promotion; accommodation of leave up to 180 days with provision of leave encashment; extension of medical facilities to GDS staff members; restoration of frozen dearness allowance and festival advance etc.
