THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With Onam only a month away, Revenue Department employees deployed in temporary Revenue offices opened for special purposes in the state have been left in the lurch as they have been denied their salary due to non-extension of their services.
The government has only given continuous service extension to the employees till June and the file for sanctioning the respective posts is pending with the Finance Department.
Though Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash has taken up the issue in the cabinet, the Finance Department is yet to take action. With the continuous sanction becoming an issue every six months, the leading unions - Kerala Revenue Department Staff Association (KRDSA) and the Kerala Land Revenue Staff Association (KLRSA) - have demanded a permanent solution to the issue.
As many as 5000 employees in special offices such as Land tribunal, land acquisition, National Highways are at the mercy of the government.
On the issue, Prakash said that the government was thinking of bringing in a permanent solution to the issue. “As of now, the file is pending with the Finance Department. I will discuss with the Finance Minister and solve the issue at the earliest,” he said. Meanwhile, both the unions have started agitation in different parts of the state against the delay in getting salary to the employees deputed in special offices.
KLRSA secretary M K Krishnan Namboothiri said that the treasuries have been denying salary stating that the employees have not been given continuous service extension. “The non-extension of service has been an issue for a long time. At times, the employees do not get salary for months which had caused extreme hardship for them,’’ he said. Stating that the government should think of finding a permanent solution to the issue, he said that the special offices could be brought under a separate wing under the Taluk offices. “Once this is done, the salary could be given from the head of account of the Taluk offices, which will solve the issue of periodically giving continuous sanction,’’ he said. KRDSA president K Sreekantan Nair opined that the government should come out with a permanent solution. He alleged that the government was not interested in taking any initiative for a permanent solution.
“The government should disband such offices opened for specific projects on the completion of the term or provide continuous sanction in a time-bound manner,’’ he said. Both the unions have staged agitations in front of Revenue Department offices in the last two days and are gearing up for more agitations in the coming days.