Govt. staff stir disrupts work

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 25. The nation-wide strike by a section of the employees affected functioning of Central and State Government offices across the State today.

The strike, organised by the Federation of State Employees and Teachers' Organisations (FSETO) and the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers to protest against the economic policies of the Central Government, disrupted the functioning of the Post and Telecom Departments, Commissionerate of Income Tax, Accountant General's office, all the universities, most educational institutions in the Government and aided sectors, Public Service Commission offices and urban local bodies besides offices of the State Government.

The striking employees staged massive rallies in the State capital and at the district headquarters. In Thiruvananthapuram, the rally concluded before the State secretariat. They were addressed by the FSETO State general secretary, Mr. C.H. Asokan, the confederation State general secretary, Mr. P. Balakrishnan, the KGOA general secretary, Mr. R. Vijayan, the KSTA general secretary, Mr. Rashid Kanichery, the AKGCT general secretary, Prof. Jayaprasad, the NGO Front president, Mr. Kallada Napoleon and the NGO Centre general secretary, Mr. C.P. John.

Mr. Asokan later claimed in a release that the strike was almost total in the State. According to him, only a few employees had reported for work today. He described the strike as a warning to the Antony Government and said the employees would go to any extent to defend the rights and benefits they had been enjoying for decades now.

The KGOA general secretary, Mr. A. Meera Sahib, said most of the gazetted officers had taken part in the strike. The Confederation of University Employees' Organisations general secretary, Mr. R. Ramachandran, said vast majority of employees of the Kerala, Calicut, Cochin and M.G. universities, the Kerala Agricultural University and the Sree Sankara University of Sanskrit had struck work. The AKPCTA general secretary, Prof. A. Prathapachandran Nair, said private college teachers had joined the strike in large numbers. The Kerala Secretariat Employees' Association claimed that majority of employees at the Secretariat had joined the stir.

However, the CPI-led Joint Council accused the national leadership of the organisations that had gone in for the strike of having divided the employees to serve their narrow interests. The Joint Council general secretary, Mr. K.N.K. Namboodiri, urged the leadership of these organisations to introspect on whom they had helped with the stir. The All India State Government Employees Coordination Committee convener, Mr. M.N.V.G. Adiyodi, also questioned claims about the success of the strike.

The Congress-led Kerala Secretariat Association, the Government School Teachers' Union, the Kerala Public Sector Officers' Congress, the BJP-led Kerala NGO Sangh said the strike was an abject failure and said majority of employees and teachers had rejected the `politically motivated' strike.

Govt. dubs strike a failure

Strike a failure, says Govt.

The Government has termed the strike by a section of employees today a total failure.

An official press note claimed here today that the strike did not evoke any response from the employees. It said only 30 per cent of the employees had taken part in the strike.

The press note said that out of 4,127 employees at the State Secretariat, only 1,210 (29 per cent) had participated in the strike. At most other offices too, the level of absence was 30 per cent. Out of 14,475 employees in other major offices in the district, only 4,381 took part in the strike, the release said.

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Section  : Southern States
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