State Govt staff call off strike

In a joint meeting held with the representatives of the employees,Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal,on Monday announced to give an House Rent Allowance (HRA) equivalent to 20 per cent of the basic salary contrary to the earlier implemented — 15 per cent of the previous basic salary. The Travel Allowance (TA) that has been doubled will be implemented from April 2010. The gratuity limit has been increased to Rs seven lakh from existing Rs five lakh. The employees had demanded a gratuity of Rs 10 lakh similar to that of the Central Government. “Besides,180 days of maternity leave for women employees,100 per cent time-bound promotion grade pay along with two 12-yearly promotions and old pension scheme for employees who have joined after November 2005 are some of the additional demands that have been fulfilled,” added Katkar.

Though widely welcomed,the employees are still unhappy with some of the decisions. “We wanted the arrears of the Sixth Pay Commission to be made in two installments instead of five that has been promised to us. This demand has not been met,” said Ravindra Jagtap,president,State Government Employees Federation.

“The TA should have been on the lines of the Central Government which is Rs 800,1600,3200 as per the grades of the employees. But the State Government has doubled the earlier TA to – Rs 200,800,1,600 and it is thus lesser than what we had asked for,” said Arvind Joshi,employee,state Sales Tax Department.