Srinagar: Secretariat Employees are the face of Government who work from dawn to dusk and even during odd hours with honesty and complete dedication especially during the session of the State Legislature by way of preparing right information for deliberations/ discussions of the Ministers on the floor of the House.
Secretariat Employees also leave their ancestral home in connection with Darbar Move which is forcing them to establish and take care of three houses viz at Jammu, Srinagar and ancestral house on meager sources. Unfortunately, the secretariat employees have also not been paid their salary as is being paid to our counterparts in other states and in other state Govt departments working on the same post which has resulted in pay anomaly, pending since decades. The employees have been barred from promotion avenues and reportedly some middle rung officers are working behind the curtain to sabotage the Career Progression/ Cadre review of these Secretariat Employees. Further employees are facing lot of hardships due to lack of accommodation / up-gradation of quarters and colonies, ration, security facilities etc. However, huge amount of funds are being spent every year unnecessarily in the Estate Colonies as per wishes of contractors and Estate Employees which has created huge liabilities in crore as there is no accountability and cross check of the system. Secretariat Employees are being forced to beg/ request for small issues like repair/ renovation and furnishing of residential quarters etc while as blue eyed/ illegal occupants enjoy with every facility at their door step. Pertinent to mention here that the Estates Department has slept over eviction of illegal occupants which has been decided in a meeting held previously with the higher authority which is badly affecting secretariat employees.
On one side there is huge number of quarters available with the Estates Department and on the other side hiring of private accommodation/ hotels is being encouraged.
Over the period of time, Secretariat Employees have gained lot of exposure and experience in dealing with the official business. However, it is very unfortunate that the Ministers are getting their staff from outside Secretariat thereby neglecting experienced and dedicated Secretariat Employees. This has encouraged attachment system and burden over state exchequer by way of providing of TA/ TMA, accommodation etc to such employees. A new trend has been started wherein experienced Senior Stenographers having ample experience at the level of Private Secretaries (Feeding Service of Stenographer) are being replaced by the Addl. Private Secretary that too from outside the secretariat. This trend has disheartened the cadre of stenographers and also marred their promotion avenues, like Secretariat Subordinate Services and Under Secretary (Promottee). The present state of affairs coupled with harsh rules is discouraging the Secretariat Employees everyday and make our working atmosphere stressful.
Purportedly, few middle rung officers are also trying to disturb the working atmosphere of Civil Secretariat by provoking the employees and recommending placing harsh rules against promotion and career progression of Non-Gazetted Employees.
General Administration, Estate and Finance Departments are very much concerned with the Secretariat Employees. We never get expected justice from the GAD while processing/ examining/ recommending the genuine demands of the employees resulting in provoking employees to go for strike and protest. No doubt the Secretariat employees are backbone of the GAD but they do stepmother to their own employees all time.
All these issues have been brought into the notice of Chief Minister, Ministers and Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and the officers at the helm of affairs. In the recent past the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Finance Minister and other cabinet Minister directed the concerned departments to get these issues settled. It was decided/ directed to submit our case before the cabinet with regard to cadre review/ career progression on the analogy of IAS/KAS, however the same has not happened till date even though there had been countless cabinets. Worthy Chief Secretary, J&K has also taken series of meetings on the issue and passed directions from time to time but without any concrete results.
The employees now feel that the Government is deliberately using dilly dally tactics and is not serious in resolving our genuine and grave issues like disparity in Pay (Pay Anomaly) and Career Progression/ Cadre Review etc.
As such it has now been decided unanimously by the Civil Secretariat Employees Coordination Committee to hold protest on Wednesday on 15-06-2016 against the authorities for non resolution of long pending grave issues of the employees. The protest programme shall continue in case the government does not come up with a concrete proposal and change its mindset towards redressal of genuine issues.
Meanwhile, we appreciate certain measures of the Government like enhancing TA/ TMA and release of DA for which we are highly thankful to Chief Minister, and Finance Minister. However, Government cannot delay neglect our grave issues like Pay Anomaly, Career Progression/ Cadre review which otherwise is forcing employees towards the path of confrontation. (KNS)
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