The Hindu : CM asks employees not to nurse big hopes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

CM asks employees not to nurse big hopes

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL. 2. The Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, today told the service organisations that all possible steps would be taken to restore the benefits withdrawn from Government employees and teachers a year ago, but cautioned them not to entertain very high hopes.

He had a discussion with the service organisation here today. At the time of settling the one-and-a-half-month-old strike by the Government employees and teachers on March 9, 2002, he had assured them that they would be called for a discussion a year later to reconsider whether the benefits withdrawn from them could be restored, based on the financial position of the Government. Today's meeting was to honour that promise.

Talking to presspersons after the meeting, Mr. Antony said it was true that the financial position of the Government had improved during the past one year. But the improvement registered by now did not allow the Government to be too generous. "We still cannot afford to be extravagant. If we do that, the gains we had achieved during the year would vanish overnight,'' he said.

The Chief Minister said the sentiments expressed by the service organisations would be seriously discussed at the Cabinet meeting shortly. "The difficulties of the employees would be considered by the Cabinet with an open mind. But I want to request the employees not to have big expectations,'' he said.

Mr. Antony said the proposed redeployment of employees would be done only after discussions with the service organisations. Secretaries of various departments had been asked to call the employees' unions for a discussion before the redeployment plans are finalised.

Likewise, the setting up of a State civil service, as recommended by the Administrative Reforms Committee during the tenure of the previous Government, too would be done only after gathering the views of the service organisations.

Mr. Antony said that the withdrawal of some of the benefits enjoyed by the Government employees and teachers was resorted to last year only because of the extreme financial difficulties of the Government. "Such desperate measures should be avoided in future. For this, all sections of the people, including the employees, should cooperate with the Government,'' he said.

The leaders of the service organisations told presspersons after the meeting that the Chief Minister had given them only three assurances in his reply to them. He promised that the Government would not target them with cuts in benefits in future, the proposed redeployment would be implemented without causing difficulties to the employees and that the Cabinet would consider the points they had raised at the discussion.

While the leftist organisations termed the discussion as "nothing but a farce'', the UDF-affiliated unions expressed the optimism that a happy solution to the employees' grievances would emerge after the next Cabinet meeting.

The general convener of the Joint Council of Teachers' and Service Organisations, M. N. V. G. Adiyodi, said the Government had quite generously restored all the benefits to the Ministers six months after their imposition last year. When it concerned the interests of the Ministers, the Government could afford to be liberal. He said this double standard was highly objectionable.

The Joint Council today issued a call to the Government employees and teachers to stage demonstrations all over the State tomorrow in protest against the Government's stand on the issue of restoring to them the benefits withdrawn last year.

Several other organisations, including the Kerala Gazetted Officers' Federation, the Action Council of State Employees and Teachers, the Kerala Government Employees' Union, the NGO Front, the NGO Centre, the NGO Association, the Federation of Employees and Teachers Organisations and the Teachers and Service Organisations' Aikya Vedi expressed disappointment with today's discussion with the Chief Minister. The gist of the statements issued by them is that the "purpose of the meeting was to add insult to injury."

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