Work boycott to continue today

The work boycott against the proposed constitutional amendment for reservation in promotion bill by state government employees of general category continued for the second day today. The reserved category employees, on the other hand, said they worked four hours extra.

The work boycott will continue on Friday also, while the reserved category employees too have decided to sport black badges and work four hours extra in response.

The supporters of Sarvjan Hitay Sangharsh Samiti (SHSS), which is heading the anti-reservation employees, held a meeting outside Vidhan Sabha, which was also addressed by Samajwadi Party (SP) spokesperson Rajendra Choudhary. The SP is opposing the constitutional amendment for reservation in promotion.

In his address, Choudhary termed the bill as unconstitutional. "It will lead to social imbalances. A junior will be governing a senior. We are not anti-Dalit, but such arrangement cannot be allowed which infringes upon the fundamental right of a person," said Choudhary.

President of SHSS Shailendra Dubey expressed his gratitude to SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav and national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav for extending their support to their demand. Dubey said that the work boycott will continue on Friday.

Choudhary, however, had a bad experience as he also went to meet the members of Gram Pradhan Sangh who were staging a dharna at some distance. Some of them got agitated and misbehaved with Choudhary and tried to manhandle him. Choudhary was escorted away by his supporters and security. However, Choudhary denied any such incident.

"The members of the Gram Pradhan Sangh did not misbehave with me and they lifted their dharna after my intervention. Their president Gyanendra Mishra gave me a 17-point demand list, which I will forward to the chief minister," Choudhary said.

Aarakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (ABSS) convenor Avadesh Kumar Verma said their members were denied entry at the PWD headquarters when they reached office at 7 am. "Besides this incident, our members worked extra hours in all offices. We have failed the attempt of those who are on strike. When 18 lakh employees are on strike but offices are running efficiently, it means that reserved category employees are efficient," said Verma.

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