The employees of the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC)-Southern Division office have gone on strike wearing black badges since Tuesday protesting against non-fulfilment of their ten-point charter of demands by the Government.
The demands include appointment of Section Officers, Assistant Section Officers and Desk Officers as per the State Secretariat pattern, Treating Establishment Officers and Section Officers under the category of first class and
second class officers, merging of level one and level two Section Officers under one category as Section Officers and to promote them to the post of Additional Secretary to RDC in the HoD cadre.
The employees also demand, among other things, to make graduation compulsory as entry qualification, revival of 50 per cent of
vacancies of jobs which were abolished by the Government, early publication of anomaly committee report, increasing the age of superannuation to 60 years, filling up of 50 per cent vacant posts of Tehsildar from among the Section Officers with ORS-I status, payment of 20-per cent house rent to the employees who are working within the territorial jurisdiction of the BMC and creation of a post of Head Diarist in the RDC office.
Since repeated pleas before authorities for fulfilment of outstanding genuine demands remained unheeded, the employees are forced to wear black badges as a token of their protest, said Staff Committee president and general secretary Rabinarayan Sutar and Antaryami Dalai, respectively.
Mention may be made that more than 30,000 employees spread over 56 heads of department offices in the State including three RDC Offices, HODs, Board of Revenue and all Directorates of Government have joined the three-day token strike. If their demands are not fulfilled, the Section Officers and Ministerial Officers would be forced to take mass leave from Friday, they said.
Former Assembly Deputy Speaker Rama Chandra Panda urged the Government for sympathetic consideration of the demands of the employees and revival and filling up of 50 per cent of the base-level posts including the existing vacant posts as the workload has increased manifold.