PANJIM: Panchayat employees from across Goa on Thursday converged at Azad Maidan in the city demanding salary structure as per the Central Seventh Pay Commission.
Speaking to reporters, Santosh Naik, president, Goa Village Panchayat Union, said in spite of several reminders, prayers, petitions and representations to the government and various authorities, the Seventh Pay Commission pay structure has not been paid to the panchayat employees who are working as clerks, peons, typists, librarians, messenger boys, gardeners, sweepers etc in various panchayats in the state.
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The government has brought panchayat employees under ‘common cadre’ and made the panchayat employees transferable within the Taluka Block, he said.
The Goa panchayat employees are a part of Goa Government’s Administrative System at a grass root level as an autonomous body, particularly, with the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1992 with insertion of Article 243B and enactment of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act 1994, he pointed out.
”The panchayat employees represented by Goa Panchayat Workers Union has submitted a detailed memorandum highlighting the non-implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission structure to the various ministers and the MLAs of the ruling party, during their recent visits to all the village panchayats. The minister and the MLAs have promised to take up the matter to the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant for expeditious solutions. However, till date nothing has happened,” Naik said.
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Goa leader Adv Raju Mangeshkar said, ”It has been 15 years when the government implemented pay structure as per the recommendation of 6th pay commission. It has been eight years when the 7th Pay Commission made its recommendations. Other received salaries as per the Seventh Pay Commission pay structure in 2018 but the Panchayat Employees are yet to get the same.”
The protesters demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho direct the concerned authorities to immediately issue Gazette Notification extending the benefits of the Seventh Pay Commission Pay Structure to all the employees of village panchayats in the State.
