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Strike hits work in government offices

PUDUCHERRY: The one-day nationwide strike called by Central and State Government employees in support of their demands affected normal functioning of government offices, hospitals and autonomous bodies in Puducherry region.

As members of three major employees’ organisations, Federation of Pondicherry Government Employees Associations, Confederation of Pondicherry Government Employees Associations and Pondicherry Government Employees Central Federation in Puducherry joined the strike, work in most of the departments came to a standstill.

Almost all government offices, including the Chief Secretariat and departments kept their offices open and attendance was reported to be thin though supervisory staff were present. Employees either abstained from the day’s work or signed the attendance and did not attend to official work.

Sources in the government departments said many of the employees had applied for leave and did not turn up though it was not granted. In departments such as Education, out of the total 275 clerical staff only 127 were present in the office. However, the strike did not have any impact in the functioning of schools and colleges.

Services in General Hospital and Jawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) were hit as majority of administrative staff and nurses abstained from work for the entire day.

The Directorate of Health and Family Welfare Services roped in the services of house surgeons and nursing students to attend to patients in the General Hospital and Community Health Centres. Though the out-patient unit did not function, patients were treated at the emergency ward. In JIPMER more than 1000 employees under the Group C and D, which included nurses, stayed away from work.

Their demands included scrapping of new contributory pension scheme, stopping the downsizing operation, an interim relief of a minimum of Rs. 1000 to all Central and State Government employees and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendation with retrospective effect from January 1, 2006. They also demanded merger of 50 per cent of Dearness Allowance with the basic pay and lifting the ban on appointment on compassionate grounds.

Cuddalore Special Correspondent writes:

The government offices in the district wore a deserted look as a majority of employees abstained from work on Tuesday. The members of the Tamil Nadu Government Employees’ Union also staged a demonstration in front of the Collectorate. They sought lifting of the ceiling on bonus and five per cent limit on recruitment on compassionate grounds and called for full implementation of the Board of Arbitration awards.

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