The employees of the Puri Municipality on Monday called off their eight-day-long strike after the president of the Employees’ Association held talks with the local MlA and the Municipality Chairman.
Municipality Executive Officer Manish Agarwal entered the office after the lock was broken in the presence of administrative officers.
The employees had gone on strike since September 27 protesting the prevailing logjam over implementation of the internal transfer order. They alleged that they are becoming victims of the power tussle between the Municipality Chairman and Executive Officer.
Apparently, the tussle between Municipality Chairman Jayant Sarangi and Executive Officer Agarwal was going on for the last few months. As Agarwal had transferred some employees without the Chairman’s permission, the latter nullified the order on September 21. The Chairman issued a circular not to act as per the order of the EO. In response, Agarwal issued another notice that those not following his order would be taken to task.
As there is no clear guideline, the employees had decided to keep away from work till the Government intervened.