West Bengal Bans Employees’ Protest

A circular, signed by the additional chief secretary of West Bengal’s finance department, has imposed a prohibition on government employees from engaging in protests, including during tiffin breaks. The circular further states that participating employees will be recorded as absent, and it also restricts employees from leaving their offices during designated working hours.

Biswajit Gupta Choudhury, who is the general secretary of Joutha Manch, the coordination committee representing state government employees, described the decision as a direct violation of the constitutional rights of government employees. He firmly stated that they will not permit such an action to occur.

In their pursuit of an increase in dearness allowance (DA), state government employees have been engaged in protests. Recently, chief minister Mamata Banerjee attributed 36,000 primary teachers in state-sponsored and aided schools, who lost their jobs, to the ongoing protest demanding a DA hike.

Banerjee further expressed her opinion that the request for a DA increase was unnecessary and emphasized that the government has the authority to decide on its distribution. Additionally, she claimed that individuals affiliated with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) who have family members in the coordination committee of the Public Service Commission may face difficulties in securing employment opportunities.

On May 4, a large group of over 25,000 government employees from different districts gathered outside the State Secretariat to express their demand for a significant increase in dearness allowance (DA). They were not pleased with the 3 per cent raise offered, current DA granted by West Bengal is 32 per cent and they felt it was much lower compared to the 38 per cent DA granted to Central government employees.