SCB employees stage dharna seeking job clarity post-merger with GHMC

HYDERABAD: Employees of Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) staged a dharna outside the office here on Thursday seeking assurance of job security after the board’s merger with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is through.

Employees are a worried lot about the consequences of the excision of civil areas with local municipal bodies across about 20 cantonments in the country.

They say they have no qualms about the merger but worry for their jobs which were once non-transferable and wonder where they would all be sent now.

"It all started when we learnt about an employee from Kasol cantonment, who was transferred to the education department of Himachal Pradesh. Not only has his salary been reduced but he is currently on two-year probation. After having worked as a clerk, he was shifted to a bottom-level job. This has left us all uneasy about our future," said Mahender Akula, president of the SCB employees union.

"We'll all be at peace once a government order or a set of guidelines and information are released about our future postings," said another official. Several questions about promotions, pay security and transfers also linger in the minds.

"Someone who started as a waterworks superintendent retired at the same job decades later, without any promotion. What about the 30 per cent we now get as central government employees - will it be reduced to 20 per cent once we are absorbed into GHMC or HMWSSB? The superannuation for states varies. Does that change for a 58-year-old, who is given a municipal job?" wondered Swati Katta, who works in the pension department.

SCB currently has more than 400 permanent employees, 800 contractual workers and over 150 outsourced employees. The merger will put them all in a tough spot.

Several women employees said that they had taken up jobs at SCB knowing that they were non-transferable. Now they are worried about relocation or being shifted to a new role.

"I settled down with my family near our office. Our kids are enrolled in nearby schools. Now I am not sure about where I would be posted," said Prajwala Devarai, senior engineering assistant, town planning section.