State Govt staff not to accept salary

The telegram did not mention any official but the reference was to the recent announcement by Divisional Commissioner Arun Bhatia who had told the State government employees that they would have to forsake a substantial amount from their salaries and deposit it in small savings schemes, association general secretary Sudhir Pimpale told The Indian Express

.Meanwhile, the association had called upon its affiliated members to stop accepting salary payments with the unilaterally imposed cuts as a mark of their protest.

A few employees have already refused to take their salaries. This will soon become a mass protest if Bhatia continues to ignore the pleas of various employees associations, Pimpale said.

Official sources confirmed that the implementation of the decision to cut salaries had begun on Thursday at government offices located in the district collectorate and the central building. However, a few employees got full salary payments as the official circular suggesting deductions in salaries had not reached their departments.

Pimpale said that his association had submitted a memorandum to the Divisional Commissioner on July 24 seeking an option to deposit the amount in suitable instalments but the officer had apparently chosen to ignore it.

Prior to that Bhatia had made an announcement to the effect that he had obtained the consent of the employees which was not true. The association had not received an invitation nor did anybody represent it at the meeting convened by Bhatia, Pimpale asserted.

It may be mentioned here that the minimum deposits expected were Rs 5,000 from class I officers, Rs 3,000 from class II officers, Rs 1,000 from class III employees and Rs 500 from class IV employees.

All state government employees except the revenue officers have agreed to the amounts being imposed on them. Revenue Officers’ Association’s Pune region member secretary Vishwas Bhosale said all member-officers will deposit Rs 5000 each before the August 5 deadline.