State govt. urged to pass strict law to protect employees from assault

The Karnataka State Government Employees Association has urged the State government to implement a law to protect employees from assault by members of the general public.

Association president C.S. Shadakshari told reporters in Gadag on Sunday that they have urged the State government to pass a strict law with provisions to impose a fine of ₹50,000 and a jail term of three years to prevent attacks and atrocities on government employees.

Over 2.73 lakh government posts are vacant in the State. The employees are working under immense pressure. However, abuse of and attacks on government employees are increasing, he said.

Discussions have been held with government Chief Secretaries to formulate a strong law to protect employees from such attacks, he said.

He said that they have high hopes that the State government will revert to the old pension scheme (OPS) for employees.

“We have conveyed to the State government that no other decision will be accepted. We will hold a State-level convention in support of it,” he said.

“The Congress government has also mentioned this issue in its election manifesto and the Chief Minister has also been urged to present it before the Cabinet,” he said.

He said that it is inappropriate to make the TET exam mandatory for teachers who have already served for many years. The association has filed a case in the Supreme Court against this order and senior lawyers have been approached to argue on behalf of the employees.

He said that the State association will bear the entire cost of this legal battle.

To ensure that employees get better treatment under the Karnataka Arogya Sanjeevini Scheme, steps are being taken to increase the list of existing 222 hospitals to 400.

He said that discussions have been held with experts to resolve the technical errors found in the scheme.

Earlier, he spoke at the association’s State executive committee meeting at the city’s P.M. Bhimsen Joshi Bhavan.

Gadag district unit president Basavaraj Bellary, the former president of the association Ravi Gunjikar, office-bearers D.S. Talawara, Siddappa Lingadala, M.M. Nittali, Raju Kantigonnavara, Muthu Mallashetty, State association office-bearers, district and taluk-level office-bearers were present.