7th Pay commission: 17 lakh Maharashtra govt employees go on 3-day strike today

Day to day work at the state government offices across Maharashtra may come to a halt as nearly 17 lakh employees will go on a three-day strike on Tuesday, to press for demands like the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission.

The call for the strike has been collectively given by the Maharashtra State Gazetted Officers Federation, the Maharashtra State Employees Organization, and the Maharashtra State Class Four Employees Association. 

These unions have expressed serious displeasure over the state government's dilly-dallying over the implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations citing that it awaits a report from a one-member committee headed by former bureaucrat KP Bakshi. The government has estimated that it will have to bear an additional burden of a whopping Rs 21,000 crore towards revised salaries and various perks based on the 7th Pay Commission.

However, around 1.5 lakh gazetted officers withdrew from the strike after a Government Resolution (GR) was issued on Monday stating that the pending arrears of the Dearness Allowance (DA) for a period of 14 months will be paid to them.

Another GR was issued stating that the 7th pay commission will be implemented from January 2019.

The demand of employees for a five-day week and raising the retirement age from 58 years to 60 years will be taken up during Diwali, an official said on Monday.

The arrears will be paid in the salaries of employees for August month, as per the GR.

If the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission is delayed, the employees will get the benefit as per the wage structure of the Central government employees from January 2019, it stated.

Earlier in the day, state Government Employees Organisation president Nitin Sardeshmukh said class III and class IV employees of Zilla Parishads, state hospitals, staff working at Mantralaya (secretariat) will participate in the strike.

"The employees of the Central government have been getting the benefits of the 7th pay commission since 2016.Seven state governments have implemented the pay commission," he said.

Sardeshmukh said the employees are yet to receive the arrears accrued to them since the implementation of the sixth Pay Commission by the state government.
He said 1.85 lakh posts of class III and class IV employees are lying vacant in Maharashtra.

"Moreover, the demand for filling up 30,000 posts on compassionate grounds is also not accepted by the state government," Sardesmukh claimed.

He said around 30 to 40 per cent of total posts are lying vacant in hospitals and other essential services departments.

A General Administration Department (GAD) official said the employees working in essential services deparments like hospitals, fire brigade, water supply etc. have been directed not to join the strike, or else provisions of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) will be invoked against them.
 

(With PTI inputs)