Trade unions blame Nitish for strike

PATNA: leaders of striking unions blamed both CM Nitish Kumar and deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi for creating a situation that led to the
indefinite strike, which entered sixth day on Monday. They also said that the government had adopted "an attitude of negativity and inertia".

The corridors of the state headquarters remained empty even on Monday, while the striking employees organised their rally outside Vikas Bhawan.

The speakers insisted on sticking to their demand, saying that the government's bid to sow seeds of disunity would not prove to be successful.

In a joint statement, union leaders -- Manjul Kumar Das, Anil Kumar Singh and Rambali Prasad -- said that they had been persistently submitting memoranda to the government, but neither CM Nitish Kumar, nor deputy CM Modi and nor even the officials concerned paid any heed to it.

On the contrary, they ignored the pleas and demands of the employees' representatives regarding the removal of anomalies in grade fixation, they said, and added that if the government had responded, then there would have been no problem and the situation would not have led to the strike.

Reiterating that the government deliberately ignored their pleas, the union leaders said that they were adamant on total implementation of the Centre's Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. Bihar Secretariat Service Association (BSSA) general secretary Anil Kumar Singh said that CM should intervene and personally look into the matters involved for the amicable resolution of all disputes through dialogue.

Most leaders of both BSSA and other unions felt that deputy CM was largely to be blamed for the present situation, Singh said, adding that he has been presenting misleading statistics on the matters.

Bihar State Non-gazetted Employees' Federation (Gope faction) maintained that the government, by holding talks with association not on strike, was trying to divide the rank of the striking employees.

This tactics of the government would not work, said its general secretary Rameshwar Singh