TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: After months of protests, employees of the Goa Recruitment Employees Society (GRES) received yet another verbal assurance from Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar that they would be absorbed in security guard and housekeeping jobs in government departments. This time however, they have said they would not call off their strike until they joined their new jobs.
After meeting with Parsekar, Water Resources Deparment Minister Dayanand Mandrekar and Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar on Friday, the members were assured that they would get placement within a month and that advertisements for the posts would be released in 15 days.
“Yesterday’s meeting was encouraging and we believe that it will work. But we won’t be calling off our indefinite strike and will continue till our demands are met. We will however not take any violent action or steps like earlier last week, for a month,” Advocate Ajeetsingh Rane, president of the Goa Trade Unions Confederation, said.
Speaking about their foiled march to the Goa assembly, the employees have accused Deputy Superintendent of Police Serafin Dias of manhandling them and have asked for his suspension. One woman employee who was part of the march said, “The male inspectors grabbed my collar and that of another women colleague, forcing us to fall to the ground. This is against our basic human rights,” she said.
