Govt employees threaten to strike from March 1

"We had put forth two demands: 40% hike in salary from July 1 last year and reintroduction of the old pension system"

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Karnataka Government Employ - ees Association (KGEA) has warned that individuals tied to their organisation would boycott work from March as a part of an indefinite protest if their demands were not met.

KGEA president CS Shadakshari reiterated that their main demand was the implementation of the seventh pay commission's interim report by way of Government Order (GO). The association holds that a 40 per cent hike in government employees’ salaries is essential if an agreement is to be made.

“We have been asking the government to obtain the interim report from the seventh pay commission for several months now and urging them to implement it. We had hoped that the same would be announced in the State budget. However, no such announcement has been forthcoming. Therefore, we have taken a decision to launch an indefinite strike from March 1,” Shadakshari said.

He added that the decision had been taken after a meeting on February 21 wherein 5,000 representatives of government employees associations had taken part.

“We had put forth two demands before the government, namely a 40 per cent hike in salary from July 1 last year and secondly, reintroduction of the old pension system. The state government must meet these two demands on priority,” he said, adding that employees from various departments, including gram panchayat and Vidhana Soudha would take part in the strike.