The employees of the Manipur Secretariat have announced that they have called off the ceasework and all of them will report for duty from Monday.
Chief Minister Okram Ibobi thanked the employees for this decision. The government has also released Purjit Lairikyengbam, a Secretariat employee, on Friday night.
The decision to call off the ceasework, which was taken after an hour-long meeting with the Chief Minister, is a crippling blow to the Joint Administrative Council (JAC) of the All Manipur Trade Unions Congress and the All Manipur Government Employees' Association. The JAC called the indefinite strike from January 16 demanding revised pay as recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission and payment of arrears with retrospective effect from January 1, 2006.
The ceasework has been on all these months since the Chief Minister, also in charge of Finance, said the State coffers did not have Rs. 1,000 crore to pay the arrears. However, the government has already started paying the revised pay with effect from April 1, 2010.
Mr. Ibobi had urged the employees to join duty failing which, he said, disciplinary action would be taken against them. Notices for the appointment of drivers, peons, etc on contractual basis had been issued.
Following these steps, several employees reported for duty, according to a press statement by P.K. Singh, the secretary to the Chief Minister.
Some employees had been arrested under the Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1984, which was invoked in the State. Official sources said they would be released if the ceasework is called off.
