JOIN USPanchayat staff to stage protest from tomorrow
Members of the Dakshina Kannada unit of Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Employees’ Association and Gram Panchayat Employees’ Association will stage an indefinite protest starting April 3.
Association president P H Prakash Shetty told reporters that the protest is against what they termed as an unscientific work load being thrust upon them.
The association members contended that the workload on the department workers, including panchayat secretaries and PDOs, was being increased by the day. The employees are being forced to execute projects without adequate manpower.
The gram panchayats under Bapuji Seva Kendra give 100 services to citizens, but lack facilities like computers and human resources to discharge the services, said the members.
Promotion sought
Shetty urged the government to initiate measures for the promotion of panchayat employees. “The promotion process for the employees in Dakshina Kannada district should be initiated at the earliest. If the workers fail to execute their work with perfection despite repeated attempts, he or she would be issued notice immediately. This is unfair,” he said. If there are complaints against employees, then a department enquiry should be conducted rather than having a Lokayukta or an ACB probe, he added.The president said that the GPS carried out for housing schemes is irrational and unscientific.
Complicated process
“The scheme has unnecessary applications, which make the process more complicated. Maintenance of applications under various government schemes is a tedious work. Only one application for all the services without any technical glitch should be introduced to make the work of the employees easy,” he suggested, adding, “Gram panchayats should get computer operators and the employees should be treated on par with government employees. The vacancies for PDOs, village accountants and second division assistants should be filled rather than giving additional work to the employees.”
Employees do not have security, they should get PF and ESI facilities. Although the government has introduced minimum wages for employees, the gram panchayats whose income in less than Rs 1 lakh find it difficult to pay salary to the employees, said Shetty.