Work in all the offices of the collectorate including Kothi and Kuber Bhavan remained paralysed after employees abstained from duty. Though a senior district administration official said that some employees from other departments had been called over, all other work was adversely affected.

While about 400 employees are agitating in Vadodara district alone, the total number of striking employees in the State is about 11,000.

The main demands of the employees, according to Natwarsinh Vansdiya, president of Vadodara District Revenue Employees Association, is filling up of vacant posts of Class III employees and due promotions in deserving cases.

He claimed that there were more than 20 posts of deputy mamlatdars lying vacant in Vadodara district alone, which overburdened the existing staff. He added that no fresh recrutiments to the posts of Class III employees had been made in the State since 1988 though a large number of employees had retired since then. He also alleged that some departments had become redundant due to the government's faulty policy.