Port Blair, Dec 12: The Non-Gazetted Govt. Officers’ Association, Andaman and Nicobar Islands organized Mass Dharna and Mass Demonstration throughout the Andaman and Nicobar Islands today (12.12.2012) in support of the All India strike by central government employees on the 15-point demands.
At Port Blair, a daylong Mass Dharna was held at Tiranga Park today (12.12.2012) from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. in which a large number of government employees and workers participated. Mr. B. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary, CITU A & N State Committee inaugurated the Mass Dharna. In the evening a largely-attended public meeting was held at the same venue.
Addressing the public meeting, Mr. D. Ayyappan, General Secretary of the Association demanded that the New Pension Scheme should be extended to the Members of Parliament also if the Parliament adopts the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill which is pending before the Parliament and which seeks taking away the statutory pension to government employees and introducing the contributory New Pension Scheme.
He demanded that the ban on creation of posts should be removed by the central government so that adequate posts can be created for regularization of all the daily-rated mazdoors and contract employees working in various departments like Forest, Transport, etc. under the Administration. Mr. Sadanand Rai, Vice President presided over the meeting while Mr. TS Sreekumar, Asst. General Secretary, Mr. Anand Raj, Secretary, Secretariat Sub-Committee, Mr. GP Mondal, Organising Secretary and Mr. Biswanath Mondal, Joint Secretary also spoke. The Mass Dharna was led by Mr. DS Clement Steephen, Finance Secretary, Mr. Venkat Rama Rao, Mr. SL Vinjit and Mr. Jayaraj.
At Diglipur, Evening Dharna was held today which was led by Mr. PJ Eappen and Mr. Akbar Ali of NGOs’ Association and Mr. S. Asokan of BKU.
At Mayabunder, Evening Dharna was held in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office in which more than 150 government employees including a large number of women employees participated which was led by Mr. P. Jay Murthy, Vice President, Mr. Jagat Ram, Secretary and Smt Rekha Sharma, Joint Secretary.
At Billiground, a day-long Mass Dharna was held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. which was followed by a largely-attended public meeting. Mr. BP Ray presided over the meeting while Mr. S. Bawali, Vice President, Mr. Mritunjay Biswas, Secretary, Mr. Prasanjit and Mr. SR Mirdha addressed the public meeting.
At Rangat, an Evening Dharna was held at Nimbutala Jetty in which a large number of workers of Electricity Department attended. Mr. Chandran led the programe.
At Little Andaman, an Evening Dharna was held in front of the Tehsil Office, Hut Bay. Smt Nasreen Begum, Vice President and Mr. Nookaraju, Secretary, Little Andaman Branch addressed the gathering.
The 15-point demand included (1) setting up of 7th Central Pay Commission and revision of wages of central government employees after every 5 years (2) merger of 50% DA with Pay (3) to scrap the New Pension Scheme (4) to lift the ban on creation of posts, etc.
