Karnataka - Madikeri   

Govt. employees to work today

By Our Staff Correspondent

MADIKERI, NOV. 16. K.M. Ganapathi, Karnataka State Government Employees' Association Kodagu unit president, on Tuesday appealed to government employees in the district to attend office on Wednesday as it had been decided to defer the strike planned on that day.

Mr. Ganapathi told presspersons here that the State body had taken the decision to postpone the strike as the Government had agreed to take up the issues raised by the association at the next Cabinet meeting. The issues were discussed with the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, and senior officials on November 12.

He scotched speculation that the strike had been postponed because of pressure exerted by the rival association, the State Government Employees Federation. The Government had asked the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj to hold discussions with those concerned on the issue of salaries and leave of staff deputed to the panchayats to allay the fears of the employees, he said. He produced a copy of a letter addressed to the association president.

The main demand of the association was to constitute a pay commission. The association would resort to a strike if the Government failed to concede its demands. M.G. Mahesh, Mary Magdalene and Shankarappa, State representatives, and Pratap Singh were present.

Criticised

Meanwhile, the Kodagu unit of the State Government Employees Federation has criticised the association for giving a call to strike alleging that the association had failed to protect the interests of the employees in the past five years.

The association, led by Sippe Gowda, had no moral right to take up the cause of the employees.

Government employees had to change their ways of protest in view of the Supreme Court order, which had banned strikes, S.R. Somanna, federation vice-president, said.

The federation wanted the Government to emulate the Centre by merging 50 per cent of the dearness allowance with the basic pay, remove disparity in pay scales between the State and the Union Government employees, re-categorise towns and cities as per Census 2001 for increasing various allowances, give up moves to scrap certain departments, stop whittling down pension and other benefits of retired employees, put an end to the untimely transfers, and extend hill allowance now being given to employees in Madikeri to other taluks in border areas.

M.A. Sadananda, federation president, said the move to deduct Rs. 20 from the salaries of employees who were not members of the association should be dropped.

The employees would have to give a consent letter in July or August every year to the Government on deducting the membership fees.

If deductions were made without the consent of the employees, it would be dealt with seriously, he added.

S.J. Kumaraswamy, Naveen Kumar, Jeevan, Panduranga, Nagabhushan, Poovappa and Dharmendra, office-bearers of the federation, were present.

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