Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Oct 4: The Confederation of Service Associations of Arunachal Pradesh (CoSAAP) informed that it will launch a series of pen- and tool-down strikes from 11 October onwards in protest against the state government’s failure to implement all the allowances under the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) for the state government employees.
Addressing journalists at the Arunachal Press Club here on Thursday, CoSAAP president Pate Marik said the confederation has submitted a representation to the chief secretary, announcing its decision.
Marik said that, despite repeated requests to implement the allowances of the 7th CPC at par with the All India Service (AIS) officers who are serving in the state, the state government has not taken any favourable decision on the employees’ pending grievances yet.
“The state government has deprived its employees by not granting all the allowances under the 7th CPC, which include house rent allowance, tough location allowance, non-practicing allowance for doctors, new TA/DA rules, immediate restoration of the All India Medical Attendance Rules, children’s education allowance, transport allowance, non-teaching allowance for teachers, allowances for all categories of nurses, and uniform allowances for all uniformed personnel.
“However, some of the important allowances have been granted to AIS officers serving in the state, which is indicative of discrimination against the employees of the state,” Marik said.
Speaking about the system requiring production of no objection certificate (NOC) by government employees seeking allotment of government land, Marik appealed to the state government to either implement the system for all citizens uniformly or withdraw the NOC system completely.
“We are compelled to launch a series of democratic movements in the form of pen- and tool-down agitation, from 11 to 12 October in the first phase, then from 23 to 26 October in the second phase. If the GoAP fails to address our grievances, we will announce the third phase of agitation in the form of indefinite strike from 8 November onwards,” Marik said.
He said the employees would attend their respective offices and mark their attendance but would not discharge duties during the office hours.
Marik added, however, that employees and departments like water supply, electricity, drivers attached with VVIPs, doctors and nurses in hospitals, state transport services, magistrates on duty, sanitation, fire brigade, IPR on press duty, veterinary hospitals, and police are exempt from the purview of the agitation.
“They will attend their essential service duties wearing black badges,” he said.
