Maha govt employees put off stir scheduled to begin tomorrow

The indefinite strike by Maharashtra government employees scheduled to begin tomorrow has been put off, following a meeting with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan here today.
"We have decided to put off the strike, after detailed discussions with the chief minister on our demands," G D Kulthe, chief advisor of Maharashtra State Gazetted Officer Federation said.
The Federation had on February 4 announced the decision to go on an indefinite strike from February 13 after their meeting with the chief minister on their demands of five day week and grant of facilities on par with central government staff failed to yield desired result.

"We have been demanding a five-day week for quite sometime," he said.
"Also, we have been demanding various facilities which are there for the central government employees. We also want the retirement age of the state government employees to be increased from current 58 to 60," Kulthe said.
The federation had submitted the proposal for a five-day week work schedule and other facilities for the around 15 lakh government staff to Chavan.
"We (employees) are ready to work for an additional 40 minutes every day, in order to compensate for the loss of working hours," he said, adding their other demands of education allowance, transport allowance and child care leave for women should also be met.