THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government declared the strike called by teachers and a section of government employees on January 22nd as dies-non. The salary on the day of the strike will be deducted from the February monthly salary. The Chief Secretary had earlier given strict instructions to the Heads of Departments, not to grant leave except in essential circumstances. It has also been decided to treat unauthorized holidays as 'dies non'.
The Chief Secretary has instructed to provide police protection to the employees who have decided to come to work on the protest day. The concerned Head of Department/Head of Office shall keep the key of the office in his possession and make arrangements to open the office for early entry of the employees who are not participating in the strike. Employees who engage in violent activity or destroy public property will be prosecuted. The Chief Secretary's order also states that temporary employees, absent without permission on the day of the strike will be removed from service.
The Joint Council, an organization of the ruling party CPI, and the opposition organization State Employees Teachers Organization (SETO) have called for the strike on January 22nd. The protest is to withdraw the contributory pension scheme for government employees and teachers and get back to the old pension scheme. They are also demanding the 12th Pay Revision Commission take up their demand and include Medisep in the government policy.