Civic services hit

Class III and IV employees of the Pune Municipal Corporation on Monday suddenly went on an en masse leave,disrupting the civic services to some extent.

Class III and IV employees of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Monday suddenly went on an en masse leave,disrupting the civic services to some extent. The move was intended to support a statewide strike demanding,among other things,salary as per the Sixth Pay Commission. However,Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale expressed resentment at the sudden absence of employees.

Many civic offices,including the ward offices and departments at the PMC headquarters at Shivajinagar,were closed due to this,even though the emergency services like pumping stations,octroi posts,civic hospitals and fire brigade services were on. However,the garbage remained lying in the bins till afternoon due to the strike.

Mukta Manohar,general secretary of Pune Municipal Corporation Employees Union said,None of the employees had planned to go on a strike. We had only given instructions to meet the PMC gates just to express our support to the statewide strike launched by Maharashtra State Municipal Corporations and Municipal Councils Sangharsha Samiti and then get back to work. However,there was unexpectedly a huge turnout of workers,who decided not to go back to work and take collective off, he said.

The statewide strike is in order to press for various demands including the one related to bringing workers under the purview of Sixth Pay Commission.

The mayor,however,had a different take on the issue,when she said that it was not proper on the part of the civic employees to remain absent in a collective way,thereby creating problems for the public. She also said that she was sorry on behalf of these employees for the inconvenience caused by this sudden leave.

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