Secretariat staff on pen-down stir

Hyderabad, Jan 6: The Secretariat employees, who launched a two-day pen-down strike at the Secretariat here on Wednesday demanded the revision of the 9th Pay Revision Commission as it did not provide them the expected relief.The Secretariat staff urged the Government to increase the fitness allowance to 61 percent and to revise the pay scales taking into account the increased standard of living. The employees wanted their medical reimbursement raised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and the process must be simplified, they suggested.

Meanwhile, the employees in Telangana districts staged dharnas by locking their offices. They also urged the Centre to initiate the process for formation of separate Telangana state as early as possible.The employees said this was the first phase of agitation planned by the State JAC. The employees said the PRC report did not consider any of the proposals made by the employees’ association and its chairman acted like the government’s agent.They also demanded filling up of 3.5 lakh vacancies and scrapping of contract jobs and outsourcing.