Daijiworld Media Network—Mangaluru(EP)
Mangaluru, Mar 11: All India rural post office workers’ union held a protest in front of the head office in Pandeshwar on Tuesday March 10, with several of their grievances and demands.
They said that even though they are working like other department workers, they are deprived of privileges available to others. In their protest held in February 2014, they were promised that G.D.S. workers will be brought under the 7th Pay Commission like other department workers.
“In the written agreement signed by the secretary of the association on February 2, 2014, it was stated that in case of technical difficulties, a judicial committee led by a retired Supreme Court or
High Court judge will be formed. We have sent our appeals to the Prime Minister, minister of communications, minister of finance, and director general from the central, zonal, and divisional level through the postmaster, Deputy Commissioner, MPs, and members of Vidhana Sabha during the last eight months,” said the protesters.
“Nearly 3,000 rural post office workers have conducted protests in front of the office of the director general on December 19, 2014, and we continued our struggle in the police station after all of us were arrested. This is the first such instance in the history of GDS. Each worker has individually written letters to the Prime Minister in this regard. There is no response to them so far,” they added.
“AIGDSU principal secretary and office-bearers have met minister of communications Ravi Shankar Prasad and requested him to form a judicial committee as per the agreement. He has promised to do this and has written a letter to the department directing it to form a committee. However, the department has been reluctant to form a committee,” they said.
“Talwar Committee had recommended several facilities to the workers. However, Nataraj Moorthi who led the leadership of the 6th Pay Commission put pressure on the government not to accept the recommendation of Talwar Committee and succeeded in it,” they said. They added that no one can stop them from going on protest till their demands are met.