MUMBAI, SEPT 1: The functioning of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has come to a virtual standstill following the indefinite pen-down strike launched by nearly 2,000 of the more than 2,500 MHADA employees on August 31.The Maharashtra Grihnirmaan Karmachari Sanghatana, the authorised workers' union at MHADA which gave the call for the strike, is protesting the non-payment of salaries according to revised pay scales based on the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations. Responding to the union's appeal, the employees have also refused to accept the salary for the month of August. Besides affecting MHADA's work, the agitation has also created problems for the state government's much-hyped SRD scheme by bringing to a halt activities like site inspection, providing of administrative sanctions, clearing of proposals, release of funds, etc.C S Kekane, the union's principal secretary, told Express Newsline this afternoon that the employees were cheated by the MHADA Board aboutsalary revision. ``The Board passed a resolution on July 1, 1999, saying MHADA employees will be paid according to scales based on the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations. The resolution entitled in totality the revised salary structure accepted by the state government for MHADA employees. The Board also agreed that the resolution will be forwarded to the state government only for an informal approval. Accordingly, the Board issued orders on July 9 to revise the pay scales of MHADA employees and pay them the arrears with retrospective effect. Moreover, pay slips were prepared. But on August 30, all of a sudden, the Board issued orders to stall payment of revised salaries. This is betrayal of employees who have been very cooperative with the Board all the while. The Board should not have kept us in the dark,'' said Kekane.He said there is confusion over who issued the orders to stall payment of revised salaries. According to him, MHADA vice-president Gorakh Megh had issued the orders as state HousingSecretary Goving Swarup insisted that payment of revised salaries would violate the model code of conduct for the elections. Surprisingly, Govind Swarup has clarified in a letter that he had issued no such orders, Kekane added, noting that the union was making all efforts to get in touch with Megh, who is away in Hyderabad on election duty.Megh was not available for comment.Kekane said the agitation would not take any violent turn like that of the employees in Mantralaya who had gheraoed the then chief minister Manohar Joshi and also his successor Narayan Rane for implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations.
