AGARTALA, June 15 (TIWN): State government employees, workers rallied under the Nationalist and Left Democratic Workers, Employees Joint Action Committee today staged a massive demonstration demanding immediate regularization of contractual employees in the state, uniform pay scale for the state’s public sector undertakings (PSU) at par with regular employees among 25 point demands.

The joint forum threatened to blockade the civil secretariat if the demands were not fulfilled after completion of the ongoing three tier panchayat election process.

The state government has been intentionally depriving the state government employees from their legitimate awards in salary and pension and said that allegation of deprivation by the 13^th Finance Commission was a hoax, JAC general secretary Samar Roy said. He added that while the entire country had the same normative formula for the Finance Commission awards, Tripura turned out to be the only one complaining of deliberate deprivation.

Roy demanded central pay scale for state government employees with immediate effect.

Joint Action Committee leader Santosh Saha reiterated the issue and said that the state government employees and pensioners are largely deprived in DA, grade pay and other benefits compared to the central government employees. The JAC would continue struggle for achieving the 25 point charter of demands including regularization of contract employees, uniform pay to jute mill workers at par with state Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) employees, award of DA to state government employees at par with central government employees etc, he added.

PDS general secretary and member of the Joint Action Committee Ajoy Biswas today said that the state’s ruling Left Front government is walking exactly on the opposite direction compared to all other states of the country.

The state government is working anti-Constitutionally with completely anti-democratic spirit. “There is no such large scale centre-state crisis in any other state like Tripura”, he said.

Speaking about pending DA awards to state government employees, Biswas said that the Finance Department lied about financial involvement required for 100 percent DA award. “It will need barely Rs. 400 crore for the purpose while the government is claiming it would need Rs. 1,700 crores”, he added.