GGEA campaign on service extensions to employees

Team Herald 

PANJIM: The Goa Government Employees Association (GGEA) in its campaign to highlight government servants working on extensions despite having retired took to the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) to protest. 

The association has since August 17 been going from department to department organizing street plays outside chanting slogans of Taim Taim Fish asking the retired government servants working on extensions to come down from their offices to be felicitated. An effigy of an old man is felicitated in the event of the person not showing up.

A group of GGEA members took to the same pattern outside the DHS just as employees were preparing to leave their offices.

Speaking to the media, GGEA president John Nazareth said the association took the decision when they realized there were around 95 employees that had retired but were still officially retained by several government departments. 

“This disgraceful felicitation is dedicated to those retired government employees working on extension. Because of these individuals, there is someone out there who is denied a promotion or being put on hold. The youth too are not getting a chance to work because of this,” he said. 

Since August 17, the group have visited the Land Survey, Agriculture and Electricity departments and plan on visiting the Assistant Registrar of Corporative Society in Margao on Friday. 

Nazareth, along with executive members Venketesh Simepurushkar and Pratibha Bapat, said they will continue their disgraceful felicitation till the government takes action. “We have to decide on the next course of action but we may stop for a few days and if the government doesn’t take any action, we will suddenly restart,” said Nazareth.