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Ketan Modi
Mumbai, Oct 23: The revenue staff has, once again, called a three-day nation-wide strike between November 10 and 13 as the expenditure secretariat has not cleared a proposal suggesting pay parity for the revenue staff in a high-level committee report.
A decision to this effect was taken by the co-ordination committee (COC) of all the federations covering 1.5 lakh employees in the three revenue departments -- income tax, central excise and customs.
The issue has been hanging fire since the Fifth Pay Commission report was made public. The report caused serious concern among the employees and led to the COC's formation, which met in Chennai in October last year.
This was followed by a day's token strike on December 3 last year and a call for an indefinite strike from July this year. However, the indefinite strike was deferred when Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha intervened and expressed his sympathy with the staff.
Sinha had ordered the formation of a high-level committee comprising the twochairmen and the two members (personal) in the Central Board of Excise and Customs and the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
This committee was to submit a report pay parity for Group B, C and D staff in the three departments vis-a-vis the pay scales offered to others in the central government services in similar positions within 15 days of its formation.
COC sources claimed that the committee was also asked to prepare a report, which was to be presented before the cabinet committee for its approval. The report was prepared before August 4 this year and forwarded to Sinha, who in turn had forwarded them to the secretary (expenditure) for clearance from his secretariat.
The report is still awaiting clearance.
The current three-day strike call was issued on Thursday night when the two joint conveners of the COC, Shankar Biswas and KKN Kutty, and the president of the Confederation of the Central Excise Executive Officers, JP Sharma, met in the capital.
The decision to go on strike was taken earlier onSeptember 22, which was ratified by the COC last night.
The strike will cover all the border entry points, cargo entry points, preventive staff, international airports, all field formation of income tax, central excise and customs.
Sharma claimed that the committee has suggested Rs 6,500 and Rs 7,500 basic salaries for Group C and D officers and had included the suggestions in the report to be presented before the cabinet committee for its approval.
"We had taken up the matter with the high-level committee and also reminded Sinha about his assurance to settle the matter in a fortnight's time. The minister has failed in meeting us despite reminders and several attempts, which has forced us to give the strike call," he said.
He said all the federations in the customs, excise and income tax departments have already given a strike notice to their respective departmental heads.
"If our demands are not settled, the COC may take a decision to give an indefinite strike call in December this year," he said.According to a rough estimate, the strike is likely to cause a revenue loss of Rs 450 crore a day.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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