Mamata directs all employees to report for duty on strike day

In a bid to foil the strike called on Thursday by the Left Front and the BJP, the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal has issued directions to its employees to compulsorily report for duty on the day of strike.

"All state government offices, including those provided with grants-in-aid by the state government, would remain open and the all the employees should report for duty on that date (April 30). No leave would be granted to any employee on that date," says the memorandum signed by state principal secretary H.K. Dwivedi.

"The governor has been pleased to decide that absence of employees on that date will be treated as 'dies non' (a day which cannot be treated as duty for any purpose) and no salary will be admissible unless such absence is covered by the grounds as mentioned in Finance Department Memorandum," it says.

The directive came a day after Trinamool Congress supremo Banerjee slammed the BJP and the Left Front for hindering Bengal's progress by resorting to strikes and threatened administrative action against those who participated in the "disruption".