Dearness allowance protest in Jantar Mantar soon

Sangrami Joutha Mancha decides on a dharna in New Delhi in the backdrop of SC on Tuesday deferring the hearing of DA case till April 11

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |  22.03.23  : State government employees have decided to take their fight for dearness allowance parity to the national level with a two-day dharna in New Delhi next month.

The Sangrami Joutha Mancha — an umbrella outfit of protesting state employees — decided on a dharna at the capital’s Jantar Mantar in the backdrop of the Supreme Court on Tuesday deferring the hearing of the DA case till April 11.

State government employees get 32 per cent less DA than their central government counterparts.

“The nation needs to know about the plight of state government employees in Bengal. We have been deprived of our rightful dearness allowance and we want to take the issue to the national level. This is why we will hold a two-day dharna at the Jantar Mantar on April 10 and 11,” said Nirjhar Kundu, a Mancha leader.

“While in Delhi we will also try to meet the honourable President and the Union ministers of the finance and education to bring the issue to their notice,” Kundu added.

The Mancha has also decided to write en masse to chief minister Mamata Banerjee on March 26 seeking her intervention in the matter. On March 27, it will write a similar letter to President Droupadi Murmu. Three days later, on March 30, two rallies from Howrah and Sealdah stations, along with a big meeting at the Saheed Minar grounds, have been planned. 

Representatives of the Mancha have been sitting on dharna in front of the Shaheed Minar in Calcutta for the past 43 days. So far, 11 employees, including Manch convenor Bhaskar Ghosh, have been taken ill because of the prolonged fast.

From Tuesday, multiple agitating employees, who participated in the strike called by the Mancha on March 10, started receiving notices for a single day’s pay cut. Despite it, the Mancha said it was mulling an indefinite pendown across the state in support of their demand.

“We are collecting the notices the employees are receiving. Let us go through all of these documents first and then there is an option to take legal recourse,” Kundu said.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear a case pertaining to the state employees’ demand for DA on Tuesday. It was postponed to April 11 because of time constraints. 

“We hoped for a Supreme Court verdict today (Tuesday). But after the deferment, our colleagues have realised that agitation on the streets is needed. Keeping full faith in the judicial system, we will strengthen our protest,” the Mancha leader said.