Himachal Pradesh government has issued restraining orders to curb staff protests in the state, and has stated that state government employees found involved in protests, strikes or boycott of work will be suspended or dismissed from duty. Any kind of notice from employees for such an act will also be seen as an offense.
The restraining orders have been issued in light of a ‘Padyatra’ (march on foot) which has been organised under the banner of the New Pension Scheme Karamchari Mahasangh (NPSKM) headed by its chief Pradeep Thakur. State government employees are participating in the march, which started from Mandi on 23 February. They have planned to gherao the state assembly in Shimla on 3 March.
The state employees are demanding that the old pension scheme be restored, which was replaced by the New Pension Scheme (NPS) where both the employees and the employers of the state government put in their contribution to the NPS account, which can be further used by the employees after retirement.
“If any employee or group/ association of employees, under any nomenclature, indulge in any form of strike/ demonstration/boycott of work or give notice conveying their intention to do so, the same be viewed seriously and stringent disciplinary action initiated forthwith for contravention of Rule 3 and 7 of CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 and the salary/ wages/ emoluments of such employees for the day/ days in question should also not be released,” states the notice from Balbir Singh, secretary (personnel).
