Fed to organise dharna to press demands

Puducherry, Feb 6 (UNI) The Federation of Puducherry State Government Employees Associations will organise a dharna in front of the Legislative Assembly on February 14 to press their demands.

Addressing a press conference here today, Federation General Secretary Mr Seshachalam said the demands, included granting of B2 status for Puducherry town and provision of Rs 1,000 as interim relief pending implementation of the sixth pay commission.

He said Puducherry, being a Union Territory, the rulers were seeking statehood and at the same time they had failed to implement several schemes, which could be possible within the framework of the UT powers.

For the last one-and-a-half years, there was a setback in the functioning of the territorial adminsitration, he claimed.

Mr Seshachalam said the government employees were also affected as several promises given to them, including enhanced pay and other benefits on par with their counterparts in Delhi were not implemented.

After much struggle, the government had brought the pay and other benefits of 67 categories of employees on par with Delhi employees. But the balance were still pending. The government was refusing to revise the salary citing the sixth pay commission as a reason, he said.

Stating that nearly 3,000 posts were vacant and the number of candidates seeking jobs were on the increase, Mr Seshachalam said the territorial admninistration should seek financial powers from the Centre and function in an effective manner.

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