K’taka govt employees call off strike after CM announces interim relief

BENGALURU: After several rounds of discussions, and following Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s announcement of a 17 per cent interim relief, the state government employees called off their indefinite strike on Wednesday afternoon. The state government employees embarked on their indefinite strike on Wedesday morning to demand implementation of the 7th Pay Commission interim report and switching back to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced an interim relief of 17 per cent for state government employees on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting with Finance Department officials, state government employees’ union president C S Shadakshari said, “We have agreed with the government’s decision and are thankful for it. We are calling off the strike and all employees will report back to work with immediate effect”.

Further, he said the government has promised to get a report on the New Pension Scheme (NPS) within two months and warned of protest if it is not implemented. “The protest had become inevitable, but the CM appealed to us to give up the strike. The commission chairperson has sought two months’ time to study the pros and cons of reverting to the Old Pension Scheme. We had placed only two major demands”, he added.

State government employees’ union president C S Shadakshari emerging from the meeting with government officials on Wednesday.

The interim relief announced by the CM will entail an additional Rs 12,000 crore expenditure for the government. An agreement was reached with the striking employees after discussions with Additional Chief Secretary I S N Prasad and other IAS officers including P C Jaffer and Ekrup Kaur. The interim relief will come into effect from April 1 this year itself. However, it will not be considered for calculation of pension or dearness allowance and will only be an interim special allowance.

Meanwhile, the secretariat staff association has expressed displeasure over calling off the strike.