Pending DA despite MoU peeves employees

With the pending Dearness Allowance (DA) meant to be given to the employees by the Manipur State Government climbing to 17 percent, many employee organisations have submitted memoranda to the Chief Minister and the Principal Secretary of Finance demanding that the DA be paid to the employees by July 11.

On the other hand, even though some of the employee associations involved in the protest against the State Government demanding implementation of 7th Pay in the State, have signed an MoU, they are starting to doubt the Government due to its failure to issue any order in the interest of the employees.

It may be mentioned that Manipur Government Employees Federation, Manipur Secretariat Service Association and Manipur State Pensioner’s Union signed an MoU with the State Government, in the presence of Chief Minister N Biren on June 8.Even though such an MoU was signed, the cease work strike at various Government offices are still continuing to this day and the strike has entered its 101th day today, as the Joint Administrative Council (JAC) of All Manipur Trade Unions’ Council (AMTUC) and All Manipur Government Employees’ Organisation (AMGEO) has still not come to an agreement with the State Government.

According to a reliable source, even though Manipur Government Employees Federation, Manipur Secretariat Service Association and Manipur State Pensioner’s Union signed an MoU with the State Government on June 8 and the cease work strike at Manipur Civil Secretariat North Block and South Block were called off, the failure of the Finance Department to issue any related orders compelled the three associations to submit necessary memos to the Chief Minister and the Principal Secretary of Finance on Friday.

According to the memorandum the spirit of the MoU signed on June 8 has been rendered useless due to the failure of positive response from the Government’s side.

Hence, unless the Chief Minister instructs the Finance Department to issue the necessary order by July 11, the MoU will become null and the employees will become enraged even more.

The memorandum further explained that the failure to pay the DA since July 2016 till date has resulted in backlog of around 17 percent.

It mentioned that the DA was supposed to increase in July 2016, January 2017, July 2017 and January 2018 but till date there has been no such signs.

If the DA had been increased, it would have reached 142 percent now.

Central Government employees are already enjoying this increase in DA.

The DA should increase by 6 percent this July, it explained.

The memorandum also urged the Chief Minister to take up necessary steps to pay the pending 17 percent DA by July 11 as a sort of interim relief for the employees.

It may be mentioned that as per the MoU, the State Government agreed to extend 7th Pay Commission benefits to the employees and pensioners with Fitment Factors of 2.57 from April 1, 2019 .

It was also agreed to deposit the benefits of 7th Pay with allowances at pre revised rate to the GPF accounts for the period April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.It was further agreed that the 7th Pay benefits with revised allowances would be paid from April 1, 2020 .

Source: epao