The one-day mass leave programme called by the Adhikari Karmchari Shikshak Samanvay Samiti (AKSSS) left the common people inconvenienced on Thursday as the employees of most of the Government offices stayed away from work responding to the mass leave call. AKSSS, the umbrella organisation of all the employee unions, had, however, exempted the essential services like health, water, electricity and roadways from the purview of the strike.
At many places, the agitated employees forced closure of the offices. Meanwhile, in an effort to break the impasse between the Government and the employees, the State Finance Minister Prakash Pant convened a meeting of the employee leaders at the State secretariat on Thursday afternoon. During the meeting, the Minister assured the employees’ leaders that the issues raised by them would be taken up by the State Cabinet in its meeting slated on Friday. The spokesperson of the AKSSS, Arun Pandey said that the joint federation of the employees would take the call on the future of their agitation after the Cabinet meeting is held on Friday. “The meeting was held in a conducive atmosphere. Many assurances have been given to us by the Minister during the meeting. However, we are waiting for the minutes and the decision of the State Cabinet slated on Friday,’’ he said.
The employees are agitated over the State Government’s move to fix the house rent allowance (HRA) of the employees at 5, 7 and 9 percent of the basic salary, depending on the type of city the employee is posted. While giving the new HRA, the Government abolished 15 different types of allowances the employees used to receive. The employee associations, waiting for the declaration of the allowances for long and pressuring the Government to release them, were enraged with this decision of the State Governmen of scraping all other allowances they were enjoying and decided to go on agitation to force the State Government to a climb-down.
They are demanding the State Government to ensure payment of HRA on the lines of the Central Government employees by way of which 8, 16 and 24 percent of HRA is paid to the employees. AKSSS is also demanding benefit of Assured Career Progression ( ACP) on the lines of Uttar Pradesh, increase in promotional avenues and removal of compulsion of referral from a Government hospital for treatment in the private hospitals under Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana.