Five lakh Class III employees on strike today in Madhya Pradesh

Nearly five lakh Class III government employees declared a daylong strike across MP on Tuesday to highlight their 33-point charter of demands of improving wages and services being rolled out to them.

Nearly five lakh Class III government employees across the state will go on a daylong strike on Tuesday to highlight demands of improving wages and services being rolled out to them.

They have applied for mass leave in support of their 33-point charter of demands that includes CBI inquiry into the supply of substandard medicines and regularisation of daily-wagers and contractual employees.

MP Class Three Government Employees Association state president Arun Diwedi said that all employees, barring health department would go on strike on September 30. Diwedi warned that if their demands were not conceded by the government, they would influence the civic elections and launch an indefinite statewide strike from November 29.

"Roughly five lakh employees from 56 departments will participate in the strike," said Diwedi.

Raj Kumar Pandey, president of the Indore branch of the association, said, "We have been pressing for our demands since long, but nothing worked out. It was only then that we decided to protest."

The association has also demanded that the Class III employees be provided an emergency duty allowance which is given to Class I and II employees along with a computer allowance.

The association has put forth 32 demands in front of the government. "We will be submitting a memorandum to the collector and divisional commissioner which will be presented in front of the CM on Tuesday," added Pandey.

Diwedi claimed that they had met CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan in April and he had agreed to concede many of their demands. "But IAS officers in the state have somehow not let that happen till date and no orders were issued," he alleged.