More than 5,000, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) workers representing railways, defence, postal, central secretariat, armed forces headquarters, IMD, audit and accounts, currency and coins, etc., under the banner of Government Employees National Federation (GENC) staged massive protest at the Parliament Street in New Delhi on December 11. They were demanding immediate interim relief and publication of the Sixth Pay Commission report with a grant of Rs 10,000 minimum wage per month, scrapping of new pension scheme, stopping of privatisation, lifting ban on recruitment, 100 per cent recruitment on compensate ground to the wards of affected government employees died in service and stopping of outsourcing. They said the recommendations of the Pay Commission should also equally be made applicable to the state government employees and the employees of autonomous bodies. The constitution of a new ministry was also demanded at the central level to look after the functioning and welfare of the employees.
Later, a delegation of the confederation led by the BMS president Shri Girish Awasthi submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for grant of interim relief at 15 per cent of the basic pay plus DA subject to Rs 1,000 per month and early publication of the Pay Commission report with effect from January 1, 2006.
It was the sixth demonstration by the unions affiliated to the BMS since the beginning of this session of the Parliament. The first demonstration was staged on November 21 followed by subsequent demonstrations on November 27, 29, 30 and December 4. More than 8,000 workers attended the demonstration on December 4. The BMS general secretary Shri Udairao Patwardhan addressed most of these demonstrations and demanded scraping of the SEZ act and ban on the entry of big business giants in retail trade.
Addressing the demonstrators on December 11, Shri Girish Awasthi, set the deadline of April 2008 and said thereafter the BMS workers would gherao the Prime Minister and all the Ministers of the UPA government. He said despite lapse of more than one and a half years period neither the Pay Commission report has come nor the recommendations for grant of interim relief has been given by the Pay Commission.
The BMS national secretary, Shri Baijnath Rai strongly deplored the apathy of the UPA government towards the economically backward section of the society and the aam aadmi, who are facing difficult days due to unprecedented increase in prices of essential commodities. Shri D.M. Rao Dev, president of the GENC criticised the government for its anti-worker moves like investment of pension fund in private market and green signal to engagement of employees through outsourcing without any social security. The GENC general secretary, Shri P.S. Bisht warned the government that if it does not give up its anti-employees move, the confederation would launch a nationwide agitation.
The demonstrators were also addressed by the BPMS president, Shri Sanjay Safai; the BRMS general secretary, Shri Swayambhu Singh; BPEF general secretary, Shri Vidhyadhar Pathak; Currency and Coins Karmachari Mahasangh president, Shri B.K. Jaggi; the RRKS president, Shri Mahendra Jain and the BSKS general secretary, Shri Ramlubhaya Baba.