The functioning of the local bodies in the district was disrupted on Thursday as nearly 1,000 of their employees went on a one-day strike.
The strike was near total as the left-leaning Kerala Municipal and Corporation Staff Union and the pro-Congress Kerala Municipal and Corporation Staff Association went for the agitation on the same day. However, the unions went on strike raising different demands.
The day-to-day activity of the Kochi Corporation and other local bodies, including Kalamassery, Aluva, Perumbavoor, Angamaly, Paravur, Kothamangalam, Muvattupuzha, Maradu and Tripunithura, were also affected as the municipal staff boycotted work. The Union demanded the implementation of the LDF government's directive for forming a common service for the local self governments, said T.M. Devarajan, State secretariat member of the Union. The staff also took out protest marches to the civic bodies and held meetings, he said.
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The Union has also demanded that the State government shoulder the responsibility of providing the salary and pension for the staff of local bodies. It also demanded the cancellation of unjustifiable transfers, said V.C. Harshakaran, district president of the Union.
The Association organised the agitation demanding that the salary and pension of the staff of local bodies should be paid by the State government, said B. Sasikumar, State vice-president of the Association.
Many of the civic bodies in the State are facing serious financial crisis and some even disbursed the salary of the employees in instalments. Nearly 300 employees who retired on March 31 last year were not given pension benefits. Some local bodies were diverting the funds meant for development programmes to meet the salary expenses, he said. Employees of the corporation and civic administrators did not turn up at the office on Thursday, he said.
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M.R. Santhosh and O.V. Jayaraj, leaders of the Association, led the agitation held before the corporation office.