MARGAO: Municipal employees across the state, on Friday, issued an ultimatum to the government to regularise the services of temporary employees, who have worked for more than five years at the civic bodies, by Ganesh Chaturthi festival on August 25 or else they would proceed on a strike.
Speaking to media persons after the All Goa Municipal Employees Association meeting in Margao, its president Keshev Prabhu said, “All successive governments failed to consider the genuine demand for regularisation of the municipal employees’ services.”
There are 600 plus municipal employees across the state who are working for five and more years as temporary employees with the hope of getting their services regularised, but the government has failed to fulfilled their demand.
“Their services need to be regularised at the earliest. We have taken up the issue seriously,” he added.
He said that the Urban Development Minister Francis D’Souza was petitioned over the issue.
“We had also met the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who had agreed that this was a genuine demand and it needed to be fulfilled and a committee was formed to study the issue. However, nothing has been done about it. We are tired of asking about it. Now, we have decided to have all-Goa municipal employees’ strike,” he said.
He said that the Labour Commissioner and other concerned officials are informed about it.
Prabhu said that a 15-day advance notice will be given to the government on Monday in this regard.
Meanwhile, the Goa Municipal Employees Association, on Friday, outrightly opposed the move initiated by the government to have common cadre for municipal employees, this time through the common minimum programme.
It may be recalled here that the Goa Forward supremo and Minister for Town and Country Planning Vijai Sardesai had announced the need to have common cadre for the municipal employees for better working and transparency in the functioning of the civic bodies.
This announcement was made on June 18, on the occasion of Revolution Day celebration at Lohia Maidan, Margao while revealing about the common minimum programme of the coalition government led by Manohar Parrikar.
Interestingly Goa Forward Party member Babita Prabhudesai is holding chairperson’s post.
This announcement did not go well with the municipal employees, who raised the issue with their union and it was collectively decided to raise the opposition. He said that nowhere in the country, there is a common cadre for the civic bodies.