Kolhapur, Dec 15 – Following the suspicious stand of State Employees Association (SEA) leaders, the district government employees decided to continue their ongoing indefinite strike in the district on Friday, seeking to implement the old pension scheme.
Meanwhile, State Employees Association (SEA) state coordinator Vishwas Katkar called off their strike on Thursday after getting an assurance from the state Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde.
In a statement, district SEA coordinator Anil Lavekar said, “Earlier, the CM had given assurance in writing to implement an old pension scheme for the employees, but even after eight months, he failed to fulfil his assurance, and now he again assured that the government would take a decision on this issue in the state’s budget session. Then Mr. Shinde called Mr. Katkar to discuss the issue in Nagpur Thursday. From there, he (Mr. Katkar) came out and took the decision to call a strike with his mobile switched off, and all of this was suspicious of Mr. Katkar.”
Lavekar also said, “Though the CM has given assurance now, it will be difficult for him to take a decision in March, as there will be a code of conduct for the coming Lok Sabha election.”
He also claimed that nearly 29 districts have opposed Mr. Katkar’s decision to call off the indefinite strike.
Meanwhile, Bharat Rasale, state president of the state private preliminary teacher employees committee, also opposed the decision.
Rasale said, “The SEA coordinator committee has taken this decision without confiding in district branches or taking assurance in writing from the government; however, he appealed to all teachers to attend their duty at their respective schools, and the next action, of course, will be decided in a meeting to be held later in the day.”