nM V Govindan, the new secretary of the Kerala CPI(M) who was recently elevated to the elite polit bureau of the party cracked the whip on Thursday and made Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan withdraw the Government’s decision to raise the superannuation age in public sector units in the State.
“It was a decision made in haste and there was no discussion in the party forum about the move to enact such a law. Hence the Government rescinded it,” said Govindan to reporters at Thiruvananthapuram after a meeting with Vijayan.
This is the first incident of its kind in recent times in the CPI(M). Usually the party secretary and the Chief Minister function in unison but Govindan, who looked tense over the decision to increase the retirement age to 60 did not hide his displeasure. “We will probe how a decision of this kind was made by the Government,” said the lower primary school physical education teacher-turned-party secretary told reporters.The decision to increase the retirement age was publicized by Finance Minister K N Balagopal on October 31 based on the findings of a committee set up to rationalize the wage structure and functioning of the public sector units in the State.
There are one lakh employees in the 122 State government owned public sector units in Kerala. But majority of them are facing severe financial crisis. It was at the intervention of the Kerala High Court the employees of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation was paid a portion of salaries due to them.
The move was put on hold in the weekly Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. The increase in pension age led to many organisations, especially the youth wing of the CPI(M) taking to the streets.