Cuttack: The stalemate in offices of heads of departments in the state continued for the twelfth day on Wednesday with no signs of a let up in the pen-down strike by the section officers and ministerial officers.

The heads of departments' staff have been on an indefinite pen-down strike since August 18 to press for their demand for restructuring of their cadre as per chief minister Naveen Patnaik's approval order issued more than four months ago.

The protest is being spearheaded under the joint banner of the Odisha Heads of Department Section Officers' Association (OHDSOA) and the Odisha Heads of Department Ministerial Officers' Association (OHDMOA).

OHDSOA secretary Kulamani Nayak said: "We will intensify our strike by appealing to our senior officers in the heads of departments offices to join us if the state government continues to sit over our demand."

Nayak said section officers and ministerial officers in 60 odd heads of department offices - including the offices of revenue divisional commissioner (RDC) in Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambapur - are on pen-down strike.

OHDSOA president Subrat Mohanty said: "There will be no negotiation. Our agitation will continue till the government issues a written order on restructuring of our cadre."

The heads of department cadre presently constitutes of junior assistant, senior assistant, section officer, Establishment officer and senior establishment officer.

In the April 16 order, Naveen had approved abolition of junior assistant posts to re-designate them and restructure them into assistant administrative officer, joint administrative officer, and senior administrative officer respectively. Besides, the chief minister also approved in his order creation of two more posts in the cadre - chief administrative officer (level-II) and chief administrative officer ( Level - I).