Varsity employees to go on indefinite strike from Wednesday

Employees of all the universities in the State have declared an indefinite strike effective from Wednesday.

In a statement Rakesh Gurjar, President of the Madhya Pradesh Universities Non Teaching Staff Association, said that the strike is the culmination of the anger and distress borne out of the Government not abiding by its promise to redress the demands of the non teaching staff.

He said that Ashish Upadhyay, the then Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department had promised last year that all the demands of the employees will be looked into within a month, but nothing concrete was done in this matter till date.

He, further, said that this is a clear case of breach of trust. The Association president added that prior intimation about the strike was sent to all the Vice- Chancellors, Registrars and the Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department much in advance but unfortunately there hasn’t been any response from any of them, hence the indefinite strike.

The main demands of the employees include the permanent appointment of all the daily wages workers who have completed 89 days of service and paying all the non teaching employees of the universities salaries according to the 7th pay commission. The demands also include the payment of pension at par with the State Government employees. The Association has also demanded that the retirement age of the third and fourth class employees be raised to 62 years.

The employees also want representation of the Association leaders in the Executive Council of the universities.

At the Jiwaji University, the strike began at 10.30 am. All the class 3 and 4 employees of the University assembled in front of the Administrative Building raising slogans against the University authorities and the State Government.

The impact of the strike was seen in all departments of the University as most of the offices wore a deserted look, forcing the students to return without their work getting done.