Karnataka government machinery comes to a halt
Most of the departments in the Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha remained closed as D group employees participated in the bandh.
Bengaluru: The state government machinery came to a standstill on Thursday when Government employees from 84 departments called for a bandh. These included BBMP, BWSSB, BDA whose employees participated in the bandh.
In BU, the strike of the non- teaching staff continued for the 2nd day. Most of the departments in the Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha remained closed as D group employees participated in the bandh.
All the government schools and colleges remained closed The State government machinery came to a standstill on Thursday following the strike call given by two groups of the state employees’ association.
The bandh was near total in all departments. The bandh was total in the nerve centre of the state administrative machinery i.e. Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha. According to the officials, most of the offices in Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha remained locked as D group employees did not turn up for work. But offices of ministers, and secretaries to the state government remained open.
According to the original strike information, employees of BBMP, BWSSB and BDA were not part of the strike decision. But on Thursday they also did not turn up for duty in support of the bandh call.
As a result the common man had to bear the brunt. But according to the BBMP officials, the bandh did not affect the property tax payment or garbage collection -- two major responsibilities of the BBMP. Water supply came as usual even though the officials went on strike.
All the revenue department offices in Kandaya Bhavana on Kempe Gowda road in the city remained closed in support of the bandh. Hundreds of people who had arrived for work, went back.
Both state-government-run as well as BBMP-run schools remained closed on Thursday as part of the bandh. The DPI office on Nrupatunga road also had a deserted look following the bandh call.
At the state PU board, staff worked on an outsourcing basis in the examination, where they worked on scanning the answer papers and so on. According to sources, only around 20 percent staff worked on Thursday.
Without much ado, they exhibit their might
They did not shout slogans, nor did they block the road and pelt stones at public property. However, the entire government machinery in Vidhana Soudha came to a standstill on Thursday, following call by 84 Government Employees organisations involving six lakh state government employees. The employees did not budge to the last minute threat by the government to invoke ESMA against them. Consequently, the State power centre Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha could not carry out any business, as most offices, including of Ministers and Secretaries, remained closed.
When the personal staff of some ministers and secretaries tried to open their offices, other employees, who were present at the Vidhana Soudha to take stock of the situation, objected to it.
Karnataka Government Employees Association President Manje Gowda said there was huge disparity between salary package of State and Central government employees. The main demand is to rectify the anomalies.
Palike’s essential services hit
Some of the essential services like getting birth, death certificates and khata certificates were hit on Thursday as the BBMP staff expressed solidarity with the protest called by the state government employees. Even the property tax payment was affected to some extent in many offices of BBMP.
Although the BBMP has introduced online property tax facility some tax payers still approach BBMP revenue office to generate challans which enables them to pay the tax at the designated banks.
Members of BBMP employees association gathered at the BBMP head office and shouted slogans demanding better pay on par with the central government employees.
Services at all the eight zones of the BBMP were hit as these offices wore deserted look. However, garbage collection and disposal were not affected and continued as usual.