Date:15/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/15/stories/2006121513400300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Trade unions demand A1 status for Bangalore

Staff Reporter

A delegation to meet two Union Ministers

BANGALORE: The all-India strike by the employees of public sector undertakings (PSUs) on Thursday had a specific demand for Bangalore — reclassification of the city's status from A to A 1, which would result in higher house rent allowance (HRA) for them.

At present, the Union Government employees working in the city get HRA at 25 per cent of the basic pay. If the city's status is reclassified, the HRA will go up to 30 per cent of the basic. The reclassification is likely to benefit the State government employees.

Sukumaran Pillai, general secretary of BEL Workers' Union, affiliated to CITU, said, "The Government has classified Bangalore as A 1 for calculating City Compensatory Allowance, but not for HRA. We are demanding reclassification for calculating both."

Expensive

Bangalore, he said, was one of the expensive cities in India, and deserved to be reclassified as A 1 if the population was taken into consideration. According to 2001 Census, the settled population had been pegged at 57 lakh, which has grown ever since, he added.

Reclassification

Mr. Pillai said, "A delegation of trade unions will meet Union Minister for Labour Oscar Fernandes and Union Minister for Heavy Industries Santhosh Mohan Deb shortly seeking reclassification of Bangalore."

If the demands were not met, the trade unions would intensify their struggle, he added.