Soren: Tough stand

Ranchi, Sept. 1: The message to the 2,000 striking secretariat employees from the Shibu Soren government is to take the office way or the highway.

Assistants, section officers, under-secretaries and deputy secretaries in the two state secretariats — Project Building and Nepal House — have been on a ceasework since July 22, to demand better pay and promotional avenues.

The men on strike have been asked to return to work by September 4, otherwise, face a “no work, no pay” situation. The government has also warned that suspension cannot be ruled out, either.

Unable to chalk out a workable solution to end the 40-day stalemate, a marathon three-hour meeting was held today.

After the meeting, cabinet minister Bandhu Tirkey said: “We will break locks of almirahs where important government files are being kept for the past 40 days. We will also implement a no work, no pay rule for striking employees.”

The principal secretary of the state personnel department, R.S. Sharma, told The Telegraph that the demands of the employees were “highly” unreasonable.

“No agreement was reached today. If the employees fail to show up for work by September 4, then stern action will be taken,” he stressed.

Soon after becoming chief minister, Shibu Soren ordered for a committee comprising Stephen Marandi, Bhanu Pratap Shahi and Bandhu Tirkey to work out a consensus.

A three-hour meeting comprising the three ministers, development commissioner A.K. Singh, personnel and finance secretaries R.S. Sharma and Rajbala Verma, representatives of employees’ association was held today, but authorities failed to reach a conclusion.

Sources said ministers and bureaucrats also appealed to the employees to return to work from tomorrow.

The employees’ demands include constitution of a secretariat service and facilities and promotional avenues at a par with their central counterparts.

G.S. Sharma, an executive committee member of the Jharkhand Sachiwalaya Seva Sangh, told The Telegraph that the government machinery sat for the talks today with a prejudice. “We want a respectable solution as we have been deprived since the past decade,” said Sharma.

Sources revealed that had the government given in today, it would have faced similar demands from four more service sectors, including administrative, engineering, health and agriculture.

The committee has been asked to review the matter afresh.

Governance in Jharkhand took a backseat since July 22, as news of Soren extending conditional support to the UPA in the Centre spread. The task before Soren seems Herculean _ the staff strike seems headed to an unpleasant finish, while he is still to allocate portfolios to ministers of his cabinet.