Centre directing the state governments to fill up job vacancies on contractual basis, claims AISGEF official

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Dec. 12 (EMN): The general secretary of All India State Government Employees’ Federation (AISGEF), A Sreekumar, on Monday, claimed that the government of India, through the process of privatising public sector undertakings (PSUs), is not filling up vacancies in the government sector with regular employees, but instead directing the state governments to fill up the vacancies on contractual basis, outsourcing work, and employing daily wage workers.

He added that this system of appointment is ‘nothing but corruption’.

Sreekumar stated this in a media interaction during the inaugural programme of the two-day Northeast States Government Employees and Teachers’ United Forum executive meeting, hosted by Confederation of All Nagaland State Services Employees’ Association (CANSSEA) at Tourist Lodge in Dimapur on December 12.

He said the AISGEF and Central Government Employees and Workers Confederation had a meeting at New Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium on December 8, wherein it resolved to make three demands from the central and state governments, while the meeting in Dimapur would discuss issues faced by the government employees here and take appropriate measures.

He mentioned that the three demands include the repeal of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act and thereby scrapping the National Pension System (NPS); regularising all contractual, outsourced, daily work employees; urgently filling up all vacancies in central and state governments, and PSUs; and stop the privatisation of PSUs.

The general secretary also stated that the Central government was also privatising the country’s seaports, airports, and national highways among others and leasing them out to private players. He opined that after 20-30 years, the private players will take ownership of these public sectors.

During the interaction, he said it has decided to conduct state-level joint conventions in January 2023, independent district/taluk level conventions in March or April, parliament dharna during the last week of February 2023 and vehicle jathas by July 2023.

The vice president of CANSSEA, T Chubayanger, also shared that NPS must be repealed as ‘it does not favour the employees’ in the long run.

Meanwhile, the general secretary of Manipur Government Service Federation, Purujit Lairikyengbam, mentioned that the Old Pension System (OPS) must be restored and called for a collective fight against the ‘neo-liberal’ policies of the government of India.

Representatives from all eight north-eastern states, including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura are participating of the two-day Northeast States Govt. Employees and Teachers’ United Forum executive meeting.