Secretariat employees demand DA, arrears; warn of going on mass leave

Shimla, August 22

The Himachal Pradesh Secretariat Services Employees Union yesterday conducted a general house outside the state’s Secretariat here over non-payment of arrears and dearness allowances (DA) and warned the government of going on a mass casual leave if their demands werenot fulfilled.

Himachal Pradesh Secretariat Service Federation chairman Sanjeev Sharma said there was a lot of disappointment among the employees as they were not getting arrears, DA or pay arrears.

“That is why when we held a meeting, we decided to call a general house,” he said.

“DA arrears and pay-scale arrears are the biggest issues and the previous government had only paid Rs 50,000 in the name of arrears while the present government has not given even a single penny to the employees,” he said. Lakhs of employees of the state were expecting the announcement of DA and arrears from the government on the occasion of Independence Day, but the state government did not make any such announcement in favour of the government employees, he further added. He said the previous governments in the state used to make various announcements for the employees on Himachal Day and Independence Day, but the present Congress government was ignoring its employees, which would not be tolerated under any circumstances.

“If the government does not hold talks with us tomorrow then we will again call for a general house on August 23, after which further steps will be taken” said Sharma.