KOLKATA: The joint forum of state government employees, spearheading the movement in demand for enhanced dearness allowance at par with central government employees and the arrears on this count by West Bengal government, has accused the state government of resorting to vindictive transfers of the employees participating in the agitation on the issue.
An office-bearer of the joint forum said on Sunday that in the last one-month period transfer orders for 580 state government employees, including teachers in state- run schools and colleges were issued.
"Almost 90 per cent of the staff for whom such transfer orders were issued participated in the general strike convened by the forum on March 10. Employees currently posted in Kolkata have been transferred to remote areas in the Sundarbans region in South 24 Parganas district," he added.
However, the state government has denied such allegations and has described the transfers as routine one as per service rules. The joint forum has already outlined a series of agitation programmes in the coming days on this issue. A protest meeting is scheduled for May 6, the day the sit-in agitation by the joint forum at the base of Shahid Minar in Central Kolkata will complete its 100th day.
The protesters will take out a rally on that day which will culminate near the Hazra crossing, which is less than a kilometre from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in Kalighat. After that they will hold a protest meeting at that spot only. On May 4, the West Bengal State Coordination Committee, the CPI(M) trade union body of the state government employees, will hold a 'March to State Secretariat' agitation. The leadership of the joint forum of state government employees has also been invited to take part in the agitation on May 4.
Before the May 4 agitation, the committee will take out bike rallies in different districts to register its protest. On April 21, a bipartite meeting was held between the state government and the joint forum representatives, but it failed to break the deadlock. (IANS)
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