ITANAGAR, 16 Jan: The Arunachal Pradesh Trade Union Federation (APTUF) has served a month’s ultimatum to the state government for fulfillment of its pending four-point charter of demands, out of its seven-point charter of demands.
In a representation submitted to the chief secretary on Thursday, the federation expressed strong resentment over the “deliberate inaction” of the state government towards genuine demands of the working community of the state, despite repeated memorandums and ultimatum submitted earlier.
Acknowledging that a few demands have been “initiated” by the state government, the federation said its key demands have been left unfulfilled. These demands are: enhancement of scale of pay and grade pay of all work-charged (W/C) employees, including computer operators, in all engineering departments of the state from Rs 1,900 to Rs 2,400; creation of W/C posts in all engineering departments/MTS posts in all departments; regularisation of existing contingency/casual workers who have completed 15 years and above of service in their respective departments; and a one-day break each year.
The federation said that certain departments have been implementing a ‘one-day break’ policy for workers annually, which is intended as a mandatory day off. “However, many departments continue to engage workers on that one-day break, while deducting one day’s wages from their salary,” the federation said.
It demanded that either the one-day break be observed as a full day off without work, or no deduction be made from the wages if work is done on that day.
Pointing out its resolutions taken on 10 January, the federation demanded that the state government issue a “formal and satisfactory response” to its remaining four-point charter of demands within 30 days, failing which, it said, it would launch a peaceful dharna across the state on 18 and 19 February, followed by a rally on 18 March, and a hunger strike on 19 and 20 March.
