Ahmedabad: Thousands of employees in the Gujarat government, including school teachers, joined the mass casual leave (CL) protest across the state on Saturday, September 17, 2022, demanding implementation of the old pension scheme (OPS).
Convenor of the Rashtriya Samyukt Morcha, Saurashtra region, Mahesh Mori said, “Our main demand was OPS and this issue went unresolved by the state government on Friday. The issue affects each and every employee of the state and hence, they all decided to join the mass CL stir today.”
“Nearly 7,000 government teachers were on leave on Saturday in Bhavnagar district alone,” he added.
Unions representing teachers, panchayat health workers and revenue employees have been protesting since some time for the re-introduction of the OPS in the state. Meanwhile, dissatisfied employees from Gandhinagar organised a rally in the Old Sachivalaya campus on Saturday.
Though several union bodies called off the stir on Friday, September 16, 2022, stating that the government accepted most demands, the district-level unions claimed that the government has not considered their main demand for the OPS.
Talking about the issue, an employee said, “Our union leaders had called off the stir saying all our demands were met. But, our main demand for OPS is still standing. The government has agreed to give OPS only to employees who have joined service before 2005, while most of us have joined after 2005.”
Nearly 8 thousand government employees, especially school teachers, did not turn up to work in the Kutch region of Gujarat.
Jakhrabhai Kerashiya from The Kutch Primary Education Federation said, “Since our main demand for OPS has not been accepted, we have decided to continue with the mass CL stir today. In Kutch district, nearly 8,000 employees, including teachers, are on leave today.”
Meanwhile, Samyukt Karmachari Morcha President Digvijaysinh Jadeja and Rashtriya Samyukt Morcha President Bhikhabhai Patel met five BJP ministers on Friday and said that the mass CL stir had been called off as the government accepted most demands, except the OPS.
The state government made an announcement on Friday, stating that employees who had joined service before April 2005 will get benefits of the General Provident Fund and the old pension scheme.
(Avya Mathur)