J-K employee union calls off strike after govt assurance

"(On) directions of the Chief Minister, the top brass of the administration led by political adviser Devender Singh Rana met the employees union (leaders) here and finalised the road map for addressing the issues raised by the employees amicably and in a time bound manner," an official spokesman said.

The spokesman said the employees have also called off their proposed four-day strike from tomorrow.

"The leaders of employee unions expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for intervening in removing the stalemate between the government and the employees," the spokesman said.

Employees have held several rounds of protests and shutdowns in recent months to press the government to accept their demands, which included enhancement in retirement age from 58 to 60 years.

The protesting employees have also demanded payment of pending sixth pay commission arrears, removal of pay anomalies and regularisation of daily wagers and contractual employees.

In a meeting held today between senior government officials and employees union leaders, all the issues were discussed, the spokesman said.

On the issue of increase in the retirement age, it was felt that wider consultations were required and that a decision would be taken by September 30 this year.

He said the "regularisation of the leftover pre-1994 daily wagers" has already been fast-tracked.

The Pay Anomaly Committee has been revived and it shall submit its report to the government by September 30, he said.

Appropriate instructions would be issued to all PSUs to look into demands of their employees including that of the arrears on account of the sixth pay commission, keeping in view their respective resource position, he said.