Employees take to streets for demands

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, February 8

Members of the Uttaranchal (Parvartiya) Karamchari-Shikshak Mahasangh took out a protest rally in support of their year-long pending demands here today. The protesters threatened to hold a three-day strike, starting from February 23, if the state government did not accede to their pending demands.

The protesters represented various organisations, such as Ministerial Federation, Uttarakhand Class-IV Employees Association, Junior High School Teachers Association, Diploma Pharmacists Association and Uttarakhand Irrigation Employees Association.

The protesters, led by Mahasangh state president Manoj Kumar Mishra, gathered at the Parade Ground and the protest rally passed through Kanak Chowk and Subhash Chowk. The protesters and police personnel had a heated argument as they were stopped by placing barricades near the Police Headquarters. They sat on a dharna and raised slogans against the state government.

They had given memorandums highlighting their pending demands to department officials and public representatives but to no avail, the agitators alleged.

Mishra said Chief Minister Harish Rawat had given false assurances to the mahasangh that their demands would be fulfilled soon. He demanded that reemployment scheme be started for retired government employees of the state. Hike in grade pay of ministerial workers, filling vacant posts in different government departments, service rule for diploma pharmacists, development and risk allowance, allotment of land for construction of mahasangh’s office in Dehradun etc, were a few other pending demands listed by the mahasangh. Sunil Dutt Kothari, Pratap Singh Panwar, Purnanand Nautiyal, KL Balooni, BS Payal, Rajpal Singh, Anand Singh Rawat and TS Pundir were among the protesters.