Mass CL to halt work in Gujarat government offices

The state government will come to a grinding halt on Thursday as an estimated 5.50 lakh government employees go on a mass CL on Thursday to press for long-pending demands.

This comes after failure of talks between the government and Gujarat State Employees Co-ordination Committee on Wednesday.

The committee demanded withdrawal of cases against its office bearers and cancellation of their transfer orders, while the government couldn’t give any such assurance.

Later, the committee said in a statement that the state government had failed to show any sadbhavana towards its employees, which is why they were going ahead with the planned mass CL on Thursday. The committee sought whole-hearted support from employees to ensure success of the stir. 

The state government, on the other hand, accused the committee members and office bearers of the employees’ union of not being concerned about employees’ welfare.

“The committee members and union office bearers wanted resolution of their individual issues. The government is positive about employees’ issues, but is not getting support of the committee,” it said in a release.

“The leave will be considered as unauthorised. The employees will not be paid their salaries and allowances for the day, and it will be considered as break in service,” it said further.  

The employees’ key demands include payment of transport allowance, education allowance, TA/DA, special pay, project allowance, among others as per Sixth Pay panel
recommendations. They are also demanding enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60, among others.