Bommai said the government was ready to immediately direct the seventh pay commission to submit the interim report and implement it.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai feels Baburao Chinchansur can't dent the BJP's political armour in Kalaburagi and Yadgir.(bsbommai/Twitter)
Karnataka Chief Miniter Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday, 28 February, reached out to the government employees in the state who are set to go on an indefinite strike from 1 March, saying the administration was ready to seek the 7th Pay Commission’s interim report immediately and implement it.
“Our senior officials are in touch with the government employees’ association and their president and are holding talks. I have already made it clear in the Assembly that we were the ones who formed the 7th Pay Commission and it will be implemented in 2023-24 itself, and funds for it have been allocated in the budget,” Bommai told reporters at Hubballi.
He said their demand was to seek an interim report and implement it, which he has agreed to.
“We are ready to immediately direct the 7th Pay Commission to submit the interim report and implement it,” he added.
The Karnataka State Government Employees Association (KSGEA) chaired an emergency executive meeting recently on the matter.
The meeting was held as two of their major demands did not find a mention in the 2023 fiscal budget of the Karnataka government, which was presented by the chief minister on 17 February.
The government employees also demanded the Bommai government implement an interim report from the 7th Pay Commission and at least a 40-percent pay hike from 1 July, 2022, before the Model Code of Conduct for the polls was imposed in the state.
Most of the services, barring a few like transport, and critical care at hospitals and crematoriums, are likely to be hit due to the stir.
A delegation led by KSGEA president CS Shadakshari submitted a 65-page report to the government and also urged it to fill up vacant government jobs.
The government employees demanded that the government fulfil their demands related to the wages at the earliest, threatening to boycott work and go for a statewide indefinite strike from 1 March, 2023.
Shadakshari told South First: “If the government fails to fulfil our demands in the next two days, all the government employees will go on an indefinite strike from 1 March. Government servants from all the departments, including education, will boycott work and take part in the protest across the state.”
He added: “We have asked only the employees working in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and emergency medical services to continue their work. We will remain absent from work until the government fulfils our demands.”
With the Assembly polls nearing, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have promised the government employees of implementing the Old Pension Scheme if their respective party comes to power.
(With PTI inputs)
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