THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Six days after it held official level talks with the PSC rank holders protesting in front of the Secretariat, the LDF Government has come out with an order specifying the assurances given to the rank holders at the conciliatory meeting. But since the Government has not given any guarantee on providing jobs, the protesting Last Grade Servants (LGS) and Civil Police Officers PSC rank holders will continue their indefinite fast.
The Government Order states that maximum appointments will be made from the Last Grade Servants PSC rank list, but the Civil Police Officers PSC rank holders list which had expired will not be revived.
The GO issued by the additional chief secretary (Home) says that efforts are on by the Government to ensure maximum appointments. It also states that the demand of the LGS rank holders that the working hours of the night watchmen would be regularized to 8 hours from double duty. Since the LGS rank list has got two more months validity, the order states that maximum appointments will be made. But unfortunately, the Government is firm on its stand not to revoke the expired rank list of CPO. The cabinet had taken a decision on Wednesday not to revive the expired rank list of CPO. The State Government has maintained that already 1200 appointments from the CPO rank list have been made.
The protestors had held conciliatory talks with the additional chief secretary (Home) Tom Jose and ADGP (headquarters) Manoj Abraham on Saturday evening at Secretariat. They had then demanded that their issues should be addressed in writing which has led the State Government to come out with an order on Thursday.
Laya Rajesh of LGS told The New Indian Express that they are going ahead with their indefinite hunger strike as their demands have not been met. “We are happy, to a certain extent that the LDF Government has not maintained that our demands are not genuine. So far, only 6000 appointments have been made in two and a half years' time from a total 46,000 rank lists of LGS. Just because the State Government is saying that they are examining our demands doesn’t mean that we will end our indefinite hunger strike,” she said.