Hills on agitation path for salary hike & dues spearheaded by GJM

10:18 AM

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Trinamool Congress

Vivek Chhetri

Darjeeling, June 13: GTA offices and some tea gardens are in the grip of movements spearheaded by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the hills.

While all 284 Group A and B ad hoc employees at the hill body started a pen-down strike this morning to demand a salary hike, the Morcha-affiliated tea garden trade union today announced a 72-hour relay hunger strike on the district magistrate's office premises this week to press for the payment of dues in plantations owned by Trinamul Congress MP K.D. Singh.

Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan, the trade union of the Morcha, launched the strike to demand a hike in salaries of Group A and B casual staff at the GTA similar to the one effected by the state government for Group C and D ad hoc workers from March 1. The Group A and B employees include engineers, doctors, managers and school teachers.

The agitating GTA employees outside Lal Kothi on Monday. (Suman Tamang)

"In the GTA, the highest amount a Group A officer like engineers and doctors currently receives is Rs 21,000 per month, while some drivers in Group C section are now getting Rs 22,500 following the recent hike. This is unfair. We will continue the agitation until the government rectifies the anomaly," said Deepak Sharma, the spokesman for the Sangathan.

The GTA has over 19,000 employees in total and 5,321 of them were appointed on a temporary basis. Since there are permanent employees in the Group A and B categories and today was the first day of the strike, the GTA's functioning was not affected.

The Morcha-affiliated Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union today said it had decided to start the 72-hour relay fast in the district magistrate's office from June 16 and block NH55 on June 21 and 22 to press for the payment of dues in the three gardens run by the Alchemist Group.

The union claims that the dues come to Rs 10 crore.

Early this morning, tea garden and cinchona plantation workers also demonstrated for an hour before reporting for work to demand land rights for the inhabitants of the tea and cinchona plantations.

Telegraph

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GTA casual Group A and B workers to halt work indefinitely for increment - JAKS

10:07 AM

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strike news

Writes Vivek Chhetri

Darjeeling, June 9: The Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan (JAKS) today said casual Group A and B employees of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will halt work indefinitely from Monday to protest the government's decision to increase the salaries of only Group C and D contract staff.

The GTA has total 19,000 workers and the 284 Group A and B staff, including doctors and engineers, who will stop work form a small but important section of the workforce.

"The salary of a driver (Group C) is now more than that of a doctor and an engineer (in Group A#). We have decided that Group A and B employees will not attend work from Monday," Kisan Gurung, general secretary of the sangathan, a frontal organisation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, said.

The GTA has 5,321 contract workers in total.

"There are eight doctors and 119 engineers in Group A. In Group B, there are 147 higher secondary teachers, seven managers of tourist lodges, two lecturers in primary teacher training institute and one curator," said Gurung. "We will stop co-operating with the state unless the issue is settled."

Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan (JAKS) file photo

On February 25, H.K. Dwivedi, the principal secretary, state finance department, had issued a notification stating that the hike for Group C and D staff would come to force from March 1, 2016. No changes were made for Group A and B.

A Group D worker with less than 10 years experience who got Rs 7,000 a month will get Rs 10,000. Those with more than 20 years experience will get 20,000 instead of Rs 8,500. For Group C workers with less than five years experience, the salary has been made from Rs 8,500 to Rs 11,500 a month. Those with more than 20 years of experience will get Rs 22,500 instead of Rs 11,000. A Group B worker gets a minimum monthly salary of Rs 13,000. Those in Group A get Rs 22,000.

Telegraph

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GTA Casual workers threaten agitation over regularization issue

12:48 PM

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kurseong

Darjeeling 12 May 2016 Casual workers employed in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) today threatened to start an agitation next month to pursue their long-pending demand for regularization.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-affiliated Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan (JAKS), today held a ‘pratanidhi sabha’ or a representatives’ meeting and passed a resolution to take up the regularisation issue as also to demand a raise to their salary once the Assembly results are out.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, JAKS general secretary Kishan Gurung said, “We have waited a long time on year after year of government assurances, but nothing concrete has materialised. Our members are frustrated now. We have given the state government a deadline till June of this year to address our demand; otherwise we will take to the streets.”

Today’s meeting was attended by representatives of 42 units, from Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Mirik, Bijanbari and Tukdah. The GTA presently employs 5,300 workers on temporary basis. These workers were earlier employed under the now-defunct Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council on meagre remunerations.

Deepak Sharma and Kisan Gurung - spokesman for the Jamukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan - a file photo

After a series of agitations between 2008 and 2011, the then state government had assured to employ 2,372 workers on permanent basis, but that promise has failed to see the light of day. “We will write to the new government about our demand and the resolution we passed today,” Gurung said.

The GJM too, has taken up the regularisation issue in many rounds of bipartite and tripartite talks with the state and central governments as the matter finds mention in the GTA agreement and act.

Further, the JAKS wants the state government to include in practicality the group A and B employees under the enhanced pay structure. Presently, the state government has implemented a pay-band structure with a ceiling for the casual workers. In March this year, the state government enhanced the salary of the workers, but only group C and D workers have benefited. “Only C and D group workers’ salaries have increased and not of the A and B grades even though they are included under the enhanced pay structure as per the state government order,” pointed out Machendra Subba, the JAKS president.

After the enhancement, group C and D workers are getting Rs 22,500 and Rs12,000, respectively per month. Prior to that, the amounts were Rs 8,500 and Rs 6,500, respectively. Meantime, engineers, doctors, high school teachers and managers, who come under the A and B groups, get paid anywhere between Rs 13,500 and Rs 26,000.

Another resolution the casual workers discussed and passed was on the interference in the independent functioning of the GTA. The JAKS has demanded changes in the GTA agreement and act to negate unnecessary meddling by the state government on issues already transferred to the GTA so as to ensure its autonomy in the true sense of the word.

(EOIC)

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GTA Casual workers welcome state govt’s salary increase order

9:46 PM

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West Bengal

Darjeeling 29 Feb 2016 The casual workers of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration have welcomed the state government’s decision to increase their salary even as they said their long pending demand for regularisation should also be addressed ahead of the Assembly election. The state government’s finance department has issued Order No.1107-F (P) dated February 25, 2016 to revise the benefits and salary of the contractual workers. More than 5,000 workers in the GTA are working on contract basis and they have long been demanding for regularisation. The workers were initially inducted into the now-defunct Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) on contract basis and were paid meagre amounts as remuneration.

In 2007, workers under the aegis of the Janmukti Asthayi Karmachari Sangathan (JAKS) started an agitation demanding permanent status.

In 2011, the state government came up with a formula and put the casual workers in a pay-band structure that included employees of the A and B categories as well. Accordingly, Grade C and D casual workers who had been receiving a monthly salary of Rs2,500 started getting between Rs7,000 and Rs8,500 from 2011. Now, the state government has proposed to increase the salary of the grade C and D workers to Rs20,000 and Rs22,000, respectively, provided the workers have been working for more than 20 years. This aside, the state government has also decided to enhance the remuneration by 3 per cent every year. Welcoming the order, JAKS spokesperson Deepak Sharma said today, “Our primary demand is and will remain regularisation. But we definitely welcome the state government’s decision to increase our salary because this was the need of the hour.” The JAKS had also filed a petition in the high court seeking regularisation and the appeal has been upheld. The state government was directed to start the process of regularisation but it is yet to be implemented. “We sought the court’s help and received a positive verdict. However, the regularisation process has not yet started and we fail to understand why despite the court’s directive. It appears the state government has some plan up its sleeves and the increase in salary is just a diversion,” Sharma said. At present, the GTA has 5,321 casual workers in its payroll with grade C and D employees comprising nearly 90 per cent of the workforce. The state government’s order mentions these workers, but there are no specifications for Grade A and B employees even though they are also included in the existing pay-band structure. “We want the state government to look into this aspect also as the Grade A and B workers are being left out of the increment. We feel that since there isn’t any A and B grade in Bengal, the state government may have overlooked this aspect with regard to the hills while making the revision,” the JAKS spokesperson said.

(EOIC)

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जीटीएले दिएको अल्टिमेटम पूरा अब हामी आफैले सोच्ने समय आएको छ-जअकस

5:13 PM

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nepali

अस्थायी कर्मचारीहरूको स्थायीकरणको निम्ति जीटीएले दिएको 21 दिनको अल्टिमेटम पूरा भएको छ। 21 दिनभित्र जीटीएले कर्मचारीहरूको स्थायीकरणको निम्ति समपूर्ण कागजपत्र राज्य सरकारलाई पठाउने निर्णय लिएको थियो। गत 11 जनवरीका दिन जीटीए, जममुक्ति अस्थायी कर्मचारी सङ्गठन अनि सरकारी अधिकारीहरूमाझ बसेको बैठकपछि जीटीएले दिएको अल्टिमेटम पूरा भइसक्दा समेत स्थायीकरणको दिशामा ठोस् पहल नभएपछि आज जनमुक्ति अस्थायी कर्मचारी सङ्गठन महकुमा समितिले एक पत्रकार सम्मेलनको आयोजना गर्दै जीटीएले आफ्नो वचन पूरा गर्नुपर्ने माग गरेको छ। पत्रकार सम्मेललाई सम्बोधन गर्दै सङ्गठनका अध्यक्ष केसी राईले भने, यदि सरकारले स्थायीकरण गरेन भने कानून लगाएर भएपनि स्थायीकरण गर्ने जीटीएले प्रतिश्रुति दिएको थियो। अब जीटीएले आफ्नो बचन पूरा गर्नुपर्छ। हामी जीटीएसित आशावादी छौँ।

उनी अनुसार जीटीए प्रमुख विमल गुरूङसित गत 27 जनवरीका दिन पनि सङ्गठनको बैठक भएको थियो। यस बैठकमा राज्य सरकारले स्थायीकरण नगरे जीटीएले नै कानुनी रूपमा गर्ने गुरूङको प्रतिश्रुति थियो। अब 21 दिन पूर्ण भइसक्दा पनि स्थायीकरणको प्रक्रिया शुरू नभएको कारण जीटीएले आफ्नो वचन पूरा गर्नुपर्ने सङ्गठनको माग हो।

Jamukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan members

उनले भने, स्थायीकरणको निम्ति हामीले धरै वर्षदेखि आन्दोलन गरिरह्यौँ, सरकारसित कुराकानी गरिह्यौँ। अब जीटीएले आफ्नो वचन पूरा गरेर हामीलाई न्याय दिनुपर्छ।
यसअवधि उनले जीटीएले स्थायीकरण गर्ननसके सङ्गठनले दल परिवर्तन गर्ने चर्चालाई अस्वीकार गरेपनि आवश्यक परे कालेबुङले आफ्नोनिम्ति केही सोच्न बाध्य हुनपर्ने सङ्केत गरेका छन्। राईले भने, हामी जीटीएका कर्मचारी हौँ। यसैले हामीले जीटीएबाट नै स्थायीकरणको आशा गरेको कारण अहिले दल परिवर्तन गर्नतर्फ सोच बनाएका छैनौँ। तर यदि हाम्रो सङ्गठनको केन्द्रिय समितिले पनि ठिकसित सोचिदिँदैन भने हामीले कालेबुङको निम्ति पनि सोच्नपर्ने बाध्यता आउनसक्छ।

उनले अझ भने अनुसार अस्थायी कर्मचारीहरूलाई न्याय दिलाउँछौँ भन्ने सोच बनाएका कारण नै आज उनीहरूले सङ्गठनलाई नेतृत्व दिइरहेका छन्। तर उनीहरूलाई न्याय दिन नसकेका कारण नेतृत्वपङ्क्तीमा रहेकाहरू आज असुविधामा परिरहेको राईले बताए।

कर्मचारीहरूले नोकरी गर्नथालेको10देखि 13 वर्ष पुगेपछि प्रत्येक तीन वर्षमा 5 प्रतिशत इन्क्रिमेन्ट लागु हुने नियम छ। यसैले जीटीएले इन्क्रिमेन्ट बढाइदिने कुरा गरेपनि इन्क्रिमेन्टको माग सङ्गठनको होइन। सङ्गठन स्थायीकरणको पक्षमा नै अडिक रहेको राईले बताए।

Via Kalimpongpost

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JAKS raised 'murdabad' slogans against Roshan Giri and Binay Tamang,

8:08 AM

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Roshan Giri

Writes Vivek Chhetri

Darjeeling, Dec. 11: The Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan today apologised for alleged slogans raised against two GTA executive sabha members by some workers at a procession here two days back after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had expressed its displeasure over the verbal attack on the party leaders.

The Sangathan, an association of GTA casual employees owing allegiance to the Morcha, however, refrained from offering apology for its leaders lashing out at the party and the hill body at the march here on Wednesday. The association had held the procession and a meeting to demand the immediate regularisation of the jobs of over 5,000 casual employees at the GTA.

Deepak Sharma, the spokesman for the Sangathan, today issued a written apology. "The workers who have been facing administrative discrimination right from the days of the (erstwhile) Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration had organised a rally-cum-public meeting on December 9 to demand the regularisation of their jobs. In the process, the party (Morcha) leadership has claimed that members of the JAKS raised 'murdabad' slogans against Roshan Giri, GTA Sabha member in charge of education, and Binay Tamang, GTA Sabha member in charge of personnel and administration department, during the rally."

"Since the party (Morcha) leadership has expressed grievances against the alleged sloganeering, the JAKS in principle accepts the charge and expresses apology," the statement in Nepali reads.

Asked if such slogans had indeed been raised at the rally, Sharma said: "We did not hear any slogan against the two leaders but in the course of the rally, some might have raised it. That is why we have accepted the allegation in principle and accepted it."

Source - Telegraph

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Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan criticised GJM leadership and GTA

5:55 PM

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Politics

Writes: Vivek Chhetri

An association of casual employees at the GTA owing allegiance to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today indirectly lashed out at the party leadership and the hill body apparently frustrated over lack of progress in fulfilling their demand for regularisation of jobs.

The Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan today held a rally and a public meeting in Darjeeling to demand the immediate regularisation of the jobs of over 5,000 casual employees at the GTA.

Addressing the meeting at Chowk Bazar, Deepak Sharma, the spokesman for the JAKS, said: "We had supported the demand of Gorkhaland and we still support their demand. However, at Pintail Village (where the GTA memorandum of agreement was signed on July 18, 2011), they kept aside the demand of Gorkhaland. If such an important issue like Gorkhaland can be kept aside, we guess our demand is of no importance to them."

Without naming the Morcha, Sharma was clearly criticising the party for accepting the GTA.

"Earlier the government from the plains used to underestimate us, now the government in the hills is behaving no different," Sharma said.

He blamed the Morcha leadership administering the hill body for the problems at hand but refrained from criticising Bimal Gurung.

Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan rally  - Pic via: Himalaya Darpan

"Why have you accepted a body which is not working? Everything in the hills is in doldrums, right from the education system to the functioning of the GTA. Bimal Gurung, however, is not to be blamed as he is still helping us. But the GTA is not working," Sharma said.

This is the first time any frontal organisation of the Morcha has criticised the party leadership.

Sharma also issued a veiled warning to the Morcha leadership. "We are the ones who had played a major role in changing the previous administrative dispensation (DGHC). We hope such a situation (on the need to change the present administrative dispensation) will not arise," said Sharma. "We, however, think the GTA will not work now. We will support anybody who will help fulfil our demand."

Other leaders of the organisation also criticised the Morcha leadership for remaining aloof from the problem.

K.C. Rai, the president of the Kalimpong unit of the JAKS, said: "They have been elected as representatives of the public but we hardly get to meet them even at Lal Kothi. As Bimal Gurung is currently on a padayatra, others should be taking care of the hill body. But that is not happening."

The president of the JAKS, Machendra Subba, sought to balance things out. "Some members from Kurseong were of the opinion that if our demand was not fulfilled by December-end, we should remove the J from JAKS. However, I have told them that our problems will be addressed by the J in JAKS. We demand that the bipartite meeting between the state and GTA be held in Darjeeling and on December15 as agreed earlier," said Subba.

"The state government and the GTA should not take our demand lightly. If we do not get a favourable response at the December 15 meeting, we will intensify our agitation," he added.

Told about the criticism against the GTA and the Morcha leadership, Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the party, said: "We are serious about their problem and have been raising their issue continuously."

Asked about the bipartite meeting, Giri said: "Till date, we have not received any official communication regarding the bipartite meeting."

After the bipartite meeting on November 9, Giri had said the state government had said the next round of meeting would be held in Darjeeling on December 15.

Source - Telegraph

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Vidhyarthi Morcha Extends Support to Agitating Teachers as Protest Enters Day 10

7:34 AM

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Vidhyarthi

The Gorkha Janmukti Vidhyarthi Morcha, the students’ wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, today threatened to close schools across the hills in support of the demand for regularisation being made by 515 voluntary teachers. Voluntary teachers of 52 high schools and 71 higher secondary schools in the hills, under the aegis of Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers’ Organisation (JISTO), have presently started a pen-down demanding regularisation. This has brought to a halt ongoing academic sessions in the schools raising apprehensions that the agitation could disrupt the annual examinations due from November-end.

The students’ wing fears that the protest by the voluntary teachers could hamper the studies of the students including their preparations for the annual exams. “Because of the agitation most schools have not completed their syllabus while the annual exams are just round the corner. This will affect the students and there is also a possibility of them losing a year. We cannot allow this to happen,” said Sandeep Chhetri, the GJVM spokesperson. To pressurise the local administration and the state government, the GJVM also said it could close down schools if the issue was not settled immediately. “We could even call a strike of the schools if the matter is not resolved at the earliest. But for the time being we will wait and watch what actions the state government and the local administration take,” Chhetri maintained.

The voluntary teachers in some cases have been teaching since the past 20 years in return for sums as paltry as Rs1,500 as remuneration. In many schools such teachers outnumber their permanent peers, leading to fear among the headmasters that holding examinations would be difficult. Asoke Newar, the headmaster of Bagrakote Higher Secondary School in Gorubathan, said his school had more voluntary teachers than permanent ones. “We have a student strength of 1,600. There are 19 permanent teachers but voluntary teachers number 27. In Classes XI and XII, we just have a single permanent teacher and three voluntary teachers for Political Science, Economics and Geography. Under such circumstances, if the majority of the teachers do not report to work, it will be difficult to hold the annual examinations,” he said.

Meanwhile, the People’s Forum, a non-political organisation based in Kalimpong, has also extended support to the agitating teachers and has demanded the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration to intervene to diffuse the situation. “The teachers’ demand is justified as they have been providing service for over two decades now. They get paid very less for their services and the future of many is in jeopardy. The teachers’ grievances must be addressed, soon,” said Pravin Gurung, secretary of the forum. Voluntary teachers are appointed by a managing committee of the schools as the School Service Commission (SSC) that was formed separately for the hills has remained defunct since 2003.The so-called voluntary teachers' pay depends on the availability of funds with a school's managing committee.

Roshan Giri, the executive GTA Sabha member in charge of education, said the issue would be taken up with the state government in a bipartite meeting on November 9 in Kolkata. The agitating teachers admitted that their protest would affect the students, but expressed helplessness due to the seriousness of the issue and the matter being of genuine concern.

[Via: EOIC, Pics: Yogen Basnet]

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