Maharashtra govt employees launch indefinite strike; services hit

Lakhs of employees of the Maharashtra government went on an indefinite strike from Tuesday seeking restoration of the Old Pension Scheme OPS affecting services including in staterun hospitals a day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced to set up a committee to look into the demandParamedics working in hospitals run by the state government sanitation workers and teachers have also joined the strike which comes at a time when board examinations for Classes 10 and 12 are underwayEmployees raised slogans like Only one mission restore old pension outside government offices and hospitalsVishwas Katkar the convenor of a committee of nearly 35 unions representing state government employees semigovernment staffers and teachers said their members in all 36 districts of Maharashtra are participating in the stirldquoServices in hospitals educational institutes government establishments tax offices and even the district collector offices were completely shutrdquo Katkar claimedHe asserted there will be no compromise on the issue and demanded that the OPS under which the entire pension amount was given by the government must be restoredSince 2004 government employees barring armed forces personnel are covered under the National Pension System NPS a contributory scheme where the payout is marketlinked and returnbasedAlso readMumbai 40yearold fashion designer allegedly raped abused by paramour after promising marriage case registeredSumitra Tote of the Maharashtra Nurses Association said its members from 34 branches across 30 districts participated in the strike on Day oneHowever government services in Mumbai including in hospitals remained largely unaffected In the staterun JJ group of hospitals which controls four medical facilities in Mumbai services were mostly unaffected said Dr Pallavi Saple dean JJ HospitalldquoMajor surgeries took place at two of our hospitals But we have started planning for the coming days We are roping in nurses from the BMC Mumbai civic body We also have nursing students Class four workers who are on contractrdquo she saidSources in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC unions said though they have supported the strike they havent participated in itShashank Rao a prominent trade unionist who heads the Municipal Union said his organisation has submitted a representation to BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal with a copy to Chief Minister Shinde demanding a return to the OPSldquoIf the government tries to crush the agitation of state government employees the civic employees will also jump into the agitation in support of themrdquo Rao cautionedFormer Chief Minister and Shiv Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray also came out in support of the agitating employees and said the government should restore the OPS The Aam Aadmi Party AAP has already extended support to the OPS restoration demandNurses ward boys and sanitation staff of Government Medical College and Hospitals and Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital both in Nagpur joined the strike along with employees of the local civic corporation They also staged demonstrations in Nagpur in support of the OPS and other demandsIn Latur in central Maharashtra thousands of government employees from various departments took out a march and protested against the state administration The march started from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Park and concluded at the old collector office and during the protest agitators held placards and raised slogans like Only One Mission Old PensionBesides restoration of the OPS the agitating employees highlighted several other demands including regularization of services of contractual employees filling up of vacant posts and benefits of inservice advancement scheme to teaching and nonteaching staffThe employees resorted to the strike after talks between unions and the state government failed on MondayThe state had witnessed unseasonal rains last week resulting in largescale damage to standing crops The panchnama or loss assessment process a crucial step to fix the compensation for farmers could also be affected due to the strikeA day before Chief Minister Shinde had announced a panel comprising senior bureaucrats to look into the demand of state government employees to revert to the OPSThe panel will give its report in a timebound manner officials have saidShinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had appealed to the government employees not to go ahead with their strikeGovernment employees in several states have been agitation for OPS which was discontinued in 2003Under the OPS a government employee gets a monthly pension equivalent to 50 per cent hisher last drawn salary There was no need for contribution by employeesUnder the NPS a state government employee contributes 10 per cent of hisher basic salary plus dearness allowance with the state making a matching contribution The money is then invested in one of the several pension funds approved by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority PFRDA and returns are marketlinkedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever