Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

`Employees with the people' is the motto

Special Correspondent

WORK IS WORSHIP: At a section in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation office on Saturday.

Thiruvananthapuram: What is the main difference between the workers of a country like Japan and that of India? If the former has any grouse, they will work overtime. If the latter has any, they will go on strike.

But if the step taken by the employees owing allegiance to the Kerala Municipal and Corporation Staff Union is any indication, the generalisation of the type mentioned above will no longer be valid. Responding to a call from the union, these employees worked all over the State on June 9 even though it was a Second Saturday, holiday for Government employees.

The union had tried it on an experimental basis in Thiruvananthapuram district last month. Its members worked on the second Saturday in May in all the municipalities in the district to clear the backlog of files. It is the success of this experiment that inspired the union to expand the practice across the State.

Said K. Jayadevan general secretary of the Union: "Time-bound clearance of files can curb with corruption to a large extent. It is file backlogs which made agents thrive in municipalities."

He stated that majority of the municipal and corporation employees belonged to the union. It was, therefore, able to mobilise 80 per cent of the employees in the 53 municipalities and five Corporations on Saturday.

Second Saturday was like any other working day for these offices. As the union had made the announcement in advance, a lot of people came to these offices and got their work done. The Mayors, the municipal chairmen and the other elected representatives were also present in these offices to lend a helping hand if necessary.

The union proposed to continue its reform in the coming days. The slogan being raised by it is, "power for the people, employees with the people."

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