Imphal, April 26: Over 100,000 government employees and 40,000 pensioners in Manipur have rejected the terms and conditions spelt out by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh for implementing the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.
On Thursday, employees of the Forest and the Economics and Statistics departments abstained from work and staged a sit-in protest.
A leader of the striking employees said: "Conditions like setting up another fitment committee to examine the issue including source of additional fund are totally unacceptable to the government employees and pensioners."
On the sidelines of a party function in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office last week, Biren Singh said the government had agreed in principle to give enhanced pay and pension as recommended by the 7th Pay Commission.
"But Manipur can't afford to arrange an additional fund of Rs 1,600 crore annually to pay the enhanced pay and pension. The committee shall examine all aspects," he added.
L. Biken, Secretary of the Joint Action Committee spearheading the protests, said a committee had already been formed. "As such, it is a merely a delaying tactics."
According to senior officials, the striking employees were reporting for duty on time but refusing to do any official work.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
