Uttar Pradesh to act tough on striking employees

With normal government working getting badly hit on the first day of the employees strike Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh government said Wednesday that it will "act tough" on them, an official said.

The government has decided to consider the absence of employees from work as no work no pay and as a service break. It has also asked officials not to grant any leave to employees during the striking period.

The government took the tough stance because it suffered a revenue loss of Rs. 530 crore on the first day due. Out of this, the commerce department alone incurred a loss of Rs.205 crore.

Over 200 state government employee unions are on a strike to press their 15-point charter of demands, including their demand to get benefits at par with the central government employees. More than 16 lakh employees are on a strike against the government.

Instructions have however been issued to check attendance registers thrice in all government departments.

Police officials said that they would act against state government employees indulging in mass protests, taking out processions and staging demonstrations.

"We have clear guidelines to arrest and lodge first information reports (FIRs) against striking employees trying to disrupt public peace and those indulging in damaging of public or individual properties," a senior police official told IANS.

Police have also been asked to provide adequate security to employees who want to work and were being forced by striking employee unions to refrain from working.

The president of the Rajya Karmachari Mahasangh, Ajay Singh however said that they would not be cowed down by the threats from the state government.

"The strike call given by the employee unions has been very successful on the first day and we will continue to press for our demands till they are met," he said.

The strike crippled work in major cities, including Lucknow, Allahabad, Faizabad, Ghaziabad and Kanpur Tuesday and is likely to spread to other towns Wednesday. Union leaders say in Agra and Meerut all work except the collectorate has come to a grinding halt.

Meanwhile, members of the provincial medical service (PMS) have also gone on strike complaining against burden of work.

Vice president of the PMS Association, A.K. Pandey said that their services were being used from checking of mid-day meals to VIP duties, but they are not being given adequate service benefits.

They are demanding implementation of the 6th Pay Commission.