Pay protests to continue

Tarun Gogoi Guwahati, Jan. 10: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s threat of “appropriate” action has had no impact on government employees who are now more than determined to continue their agitation till Dispur redresses their grievances over revised payscales. The Sadou Asom Karmachari Parishad, the apex organisation of the employees, said it would not go back, adding that the chief minister was being misled by his advisers on the issue. “There is going to be no compromise. There has been widespread resentment over the chief minister’s remarks. Some may pull out fearing action but we will continue with our agitation. If the grievances are not addressed, the working atmosphere will be affected,” a circumspect Basab Kalita, secretary general of the organisation, said. They will go ahead with their proposed sit-in at Dispur Last Gate here tomorrow from 11am to 3pm, where the office-bearers of its district units and the central committee members will participate. Besides the parishad, the Co-ordination Committee of Assam Class I Service Associations, represented by 13 officers’ associations, has also decided to observe a protest day tomorrow against the failure of the government to make the pay of the state employees on a par with the central government staff. The officials will wear black badges during office hours tomorrow. Kalita said they were not in favour of going into a confrontation with anybody. “We only want a discussion with the chief minister. If he calls us we will explain our grievances. We have never tried to inconvenience anybody in the past seven years. We also have the state’s interests in mind. We are convinced that the anomaly committee set up by the government will not be able to resolve our problem,” he added. The organisation’s joint secretary, N. Das, said the parishad was cautious not to announce any step that would inconvenience the common man. “We will chart our future course of action at our Dhubri annual conference on January 21-22 but we are here not for confrontation,” he said, when asked for his reaction about the chief minister’s warning to take errant employees to task. On January 6, the parishad’s members organised a statewide dharna, which hit work at all government offices.