MUMBAI, Nov 27: Over 1.5 lakh central government employees working in the three revenue departments will go on a day's strike on December 3 to protest against the pay disparity that has been caused by the Fifth Pay Commission.

The strike covering all the employees upto the superintendents' level is expected to result in a revenue loss of Rs 425 crore. The employees are seeking pay parity with other central government employees.

It is for the first time the staff in the three revenue departments have joined hands to agitate for pay parity. The strike call will also include the anti-smuggling and preventive departments and all entry/exit points like airports, air cargo complexes and other ports. The revenue staff have come together immediately after the pay panel report was published. The main reason for giving the strike call is the callous attitude of the finance ministry which had failed to take note of the revenue employees' grouse when they went on an agitation four months ago.

Representatives of the coordination committee had also met the revenue secretary and had requested him to place the demands of the revenue staff before the fast track committee looking into the demands of various agencies agitating against the pay panel report. However, sources claimed that the revenue secretary, did not place the coordination committee's demand before the fast track committee and thus made the government's intention clear -- that it was not in favour of altering the pay panel recommendations vis-a-vis the revenue staff. Sources claimed that the current recommendations had widened the disparity between group A and B services which earlier stood at around Rs 200, but has now grown to over Rs 1,800. In addition, the difference between the staff in the revenue departments vis-a-vis their counterparts in other departments of the same rank has also widened.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.