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Irked over lack of basic amenities, child development project officers in Punjab to go on strike from Sept 9
Child development project officers in Punjab have decided to go on pen-down strike from September 9 to protest against lack of toilet and drinking water facilities at offices and non-payment of salaries
Lack of toilet and drinking water facilities at offices and non-payment of salaries for three months, Child development project officers (CDPOs) have decided to go on pen down strike from September 9. Their subordinate staff, including supervisors and clerks, are also waiting for their salaries from the last three months.
The officials said that their offices are in dilapidated buildings, which sans these facilities. They held meetings with minister and senior officials of Department of Social Security and Women and Child Development several times and raised these issues, including release of their release of salaries but to no avail.
According to CDPO’s Association of Punjab, there are around 135 CDPOs in Punjab against 155 sanction posts.
They said that promotions from CDPO to DPO (District Program Officer) have been pending for many years. Out of 23 posts of DPOs in the state only 9 posts are filled, the rest are being run on additional charges for a long time.
The CDPOs are block-level officers, who are in-charge for the implementation of child development services, schemes and projects.
A CDPO, pleading anonymity said, “I have worked at five blocks during my four year service and not even a single block office had facilities of toilets and drinking water. And women also work in these offices. We are doing our duties in such circumstances without being paid for the last three months. I have missed installment of my car and home due to nonpayment of salary. Now I am thinking of quitting the services.”
“The CDPOs don’t even have the basic facilities. The morale of the CDPOs cadre has declined. There is a lot of resentment among them. There are some important issues that need to be resolved immediately. The salary of CDPOs and its office staff has been pending from the last three months due to which they are facing domestic and financial problems. There is protest in this regard in the entire ICDS (the Integrated Child Development Services.) wing,” said Kanwar Shakti, president of the association.
He further added, “Our department works for development and welfare of women but we don’t have toilets for women in our offices. Even at some offices, the entire staff sits in one room along with CDPOs. The CDPOs become eligible for the promotions after being in service for four year. However, some of the CDPOs have been waiting to be promoted for the last 25 years. There are at least 40 CDPOs whose promotions are due.”
Additional chief secretary to the department, Kripa Shankar Saroj, said, “I am holding the additional charge of this department as ACS Seema Jain was on leave. She is going to join the office from Monday and she will look into it.”
ACS Seema Jain and director Arvind Pal Singh Sandhu did not respond to repeated calls and messages.
