Karnataka government employees want the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission.
Lakhs of government employees in Karnataka stayed away from work today demanding equal pay with workers in the Union government. They want the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission and say there is a huge difference between what a state and a central government employee earns.
"See, the central government is bringing out the 7th Pay Commission and the state hasn't taken any action in spite of several memorandums and several appeals the state government is not coming forward to do anything for the government employees," said Narayan, Organising Secretary of the Karnataka State Employees Association.
"The difference (in pay) is very huge and there is no priority so it varies from 40% to 100%.We have issued a notice to the government and subsequently today all 6,40,00 employees are going for strike and absenting from their duties today," he said.
The result, Vidhana Soudha, the well-known seat of the Karnataka legislature, saw locked doors and empty corridors. And silence in a place where usually thousands of state government employees work.
The state government is also dealing with the threat of mass casual leave by police constables on Saturday. The leader of that protest, V Shashidhar, a former constable dismissed from the force in 1990, has been arrested. The state has also invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act or ESMA and hope that it has succeeded in pre-empting that protest.
Om Prakash, the state's Director General of Police addressed the press and made it clear he thought there would be no protest on Saturday. "Who has gone for the strike? No police person has gone for a strike. No one has gone for a strike, who has gone for a strike?" he said.
With unhappy employees in different sectors, the state government clearly has a lot to do to right in its own backyard.