Karnataka Govt staff to be absent from work on June 2, pay parity issue

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, May 16, 2016: The state government’s apathy in considering and dealing with a  request for equal wages for equal work,is set to cause nearly 5.10 lakh government employees from 84 departments to resort to en masse absenteeism on June 2. This move, employees said is a symbolic protest to draw government’s attention to their demand to set up a wage revision committee that will help draw parity with the salary of their counterparts in central governments.

Prakash Nayak, president of DK Dakshina Kannada district unit of Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association, said a state wide agitation plan was drawn up in great detail when the state executive committee of the association met here on April 5. Accordingly, the state unit of the association has served a strike notice to the state chief secretary on April 20, he said adding the government has not responded to the demands in the notice as on date.

Wage disparity between central government employees and their state government counterparts has increased over the years. Nearly 24 state governments across India have already either drawn parity with wages their employees earn vis-a-vis central government employees or have bridged this gap significantly, he said adding repeated representations to CM Siddaramaiah at various state government employee meets have only drawn empty assurances thus far.

Citing an example, he said while a D group employee in central government gets total wages of Rs 30,000 per month including a basic pay of Rs 21,000, their counterpart in Karnataka get basic pay of Rs 9,600 and total pay of Rs 15,000. The government employees are 2.70-lakh less compared to sanctioned strength of 7.80 lakh, he said. The government by way of outsourcing their work or not going in for new recruitments is saving Rs 8,500 crore each year.
Expert Comment  : The demand for increasing salary of govt staff without considering what we are getting back from them would run India bankrupt one day! according to Arindam Bhattacharya.
With nearly 30,000 government employees expected to superannuate from services during the year, the work burden on existing employees will only worsen, he said. With state government introducing newer welfare schemes each year, the onus of implementing it successfully rests on the employees, he said. Many new employees who have joined through KPSC recruitment have quit their jobs unable to put up with the pressure exerted on them by their seniors, he said.

The state unit has submitted relevant facts and figures to buttress their claims for parity in wages at pre-budget discussions held with CM and senior government functionaries in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively. The wages of state government employees was last revised in 2012. The expected outgo to the government on account of wage revision is Rs 2,000 crore. This is a small amount compared to the Rs 1-lakh crore budget of the government, he said.