GUWAHATI, July 11 � The Committee for Struggle to Revive Public Sector Undertaking, Assam has decried the apathy of the State Government in addressing some persisting concerns of sick PSUs the State.
In the latest instance, the committee said in a statement, that the report of the State Public Sector Pay Panel that was constituted by the government following a lot of persuasion by the committee through the vide government notification (No FPC/16/ 2007/13) dated January 2, 2010, was yet to be made public.
�It is regrettable that the pay panel which had submitted a detailed report after consulting with all the stakeholders including PSU Employees Union, PSU managements, and the revival committee is gathering dust in official files even though it was submitted on March 30, 2010. The developments exposed the anti-labour and anti-employee stand of the State government, which has chosen to deprive its own employees of their legitimate dues,� the committee said adding that as a result of the act of the State Government the employees of the PSUs have not received their revised salary till today.
�Rather, the State Government is only harassing the employees in the matter of giving revised scale under the pretext of looking for irrelevant information,� the committee added.
The committee further said that at a time when the unprecedented rise in the prices of essential commodities was hitting the commoners hard, the State Government totally overlooked the plight of the employees of public sector utilities that are run by the Government itself.
�This smacks of discriminatory attitude and divisive policies of the State Government,� it�s rued.
Of the 48 State PSUs with a total of 54,500 employees, 14 units have been closed down, and among these employees of three industrial undertakings and one enterprise have not received their salaries since 1994 and 2001 respectively. �Neither has there been any attempt at providing VRS to the employees nor at reviving the PSUs. As of now 33 PSUs are running with total employee strength of 41,920�it is regrettable that the State government is trying to make the employees the lone scapegoat for the loss making units and deprive them of their salaries and other benefits,� it said.
The committee said if the State Government deprives the PSU employees of their rightful dues, it must also effect a cut on the salaries of officials responsible for running the PSUs, besides punishing the officials and politicians who had pushed these organisations to the brink through wrong policies.
