Maharashtra gazetted officers on strike from January 18

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Over one lakh gazetted officers of state government will go on a three-day strike starting January 18 for various demands including implementation of the
Seventh Pay commission and raising their retirement age from 58 to 60. G D Kulthe, chief convenor of Maharashtra State Gazetted Officers Federation, said they are fed up with the "false assurances" given by the government regarding pending issues concerning the employees.

"We are over one lakh members and we will all be on a strike for three days," Kulthe said. The decision was taken at a meeting held in Mumbai which was attended by 150 representatives of various state-level employees' associations. "Union government has taken a decision to implement the Seventh Pay commission and hence state should also implement it for its employees, but the state seems not yet ready to do so," Kulthe alleged. State Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the government is positive on implementing the pay commission in coming months. He said its implementation will put an additional burden of Rs 21,000 crore on state exchequer.

The demands of the officers include removal of pay grade of Rs 5400; filling of vacant posts immediately; sorting out various issues pending with the departments of sales tax, education, agriculture, health etc. They also want protection from arbitrary transfer at the behest of the political leaders and want stringent laws to deter political leaders and anti-social elements from attacking government servants.

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