Gen, OBC employees strike intensifies

Ignoring an appeal by the state government to go back to work, Uttarakhand General-OBC Employees Association on Thursday intensified its strike for removal of the provision of reservation in promotions.

The association instead also involved the employees engaged in providing essential services like healthcare, power and water supply in the stir.

The association has been on an indefinite strike over the issue since March 2, affecting work at the secretariat and government offices across the state.

The state government had issued an appeal to the association on Wednesday asking them to end their strike in public interest in view of the coronavirus threat.

The association, however, ignored the appeal and instead intensified the stir by widening its ambit to cover employees providing essential services.

A section of employees of Jal Sansthan, Peya Jal Nigam and power corporations also joined the strike on Thursday besides pharmacists and lab technicians.

Doctors and nurses have stayed away from the strike.

The Association wants the state government to go ahead with deparmental promotions in compliance with a recent Supreme Court ruling which has held that reservation in promotions is not a Fundamental Right.

General and OBC Employees Association state president Deepak Joshi said causing inconvenience to people by bringing essential services under the ambit of the stir was not their purpose. They only want their voice to be heard by the government, he said.