Gram panchayat employees stage protest in Karnataka over unpaid salary

Members of the district unit of the Karnataka State Gram Panchayat Employees’ Association affiliated to Centre of Indian trade Unions (CITU) took out a protest march in Kalaburagi city on November 24 urging the district authorities to resolve long-pending service issues affecting bill collectors, clerk-cum–data entry operators and sanitation workers serving in gram panchayats across Kalaburagi district in Karnataka.

Association State unit president Nagaraj Bangur and State secretary Gaibu Jainekhan said that although many employees have been serving for 25 to 30 years, they are struggling with unpaid salaries, denial of promotions and a lack of basic work facilities.

Several staff members have not received salaries for the last 25–30 months. Though the government has directed local bodies to pay 40% of salaries from tax collection, gram panchayats have allegedly not cleared arrears, pushing employees into severe financial distress, Mr. Bangur alleged.

Expressing concern over delay in approving service records, Mr. Bangur said that, as per a government order, all gram panchayat employees appointed before 31-10-2017 must be approved by the zilla panchayat, but many files are pending. Employees appointed on compassionate grounds are also working as tax collectors with very low wages, he added.

The association accused the zilla panchayat of unnecessarily delaying promotions, even though a provisional list for Secretary Grade-2 and Second Division Accounts Assistant posts was prepared a year ago.