Gram panchayat staff warn Karnataka govt of laying siege to Vidhana Soudha

Thousands of gram panchayat employees taking out a protest march in Kalaburagi on October 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI

Thousands of gram panchayat employees of Karnataka descended on Kalaburagi on October 1 to take out a protest march and stage a demonstration outside the residence of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge.

However, the police stopped them at Annapurna Cross just after they marched for hardly 500 metres, citing lack of space for a huge crowd to stage a demonstration outside the Minister’s residence.

The employees were then moved to the Public Garden where they held a demonstration near the Mahatma Gandhi statue.

“We have already put forward our demands. The proposals for increasing the wages of employees working on a contract basis, paying pensions, upgrading the panchayats and promoting eligible employees with wage increments are pending before the Finance Department. Suppose they are not disposed of before October 23. In that case, the gram panchayat employees from across Karnataka will lay siege to Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru,” said M.B. Nadagouda, president of Karnataka State Gram Panchayat Association.

Taking exceptions to the State Government’s ‘inordinate delay’ in fulfilling its promises, Mr. Nadagouda said that the Congress government in Karnataka had betrayed the panchayat employees by not keeping its word.

“Labour Minister Santosh Lad had promised to increase the gram panchayat wage to ₹31,000. But he did not increase even 35 paise. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge had, six months ago, promised, to add ₹3,000 to the existing wages. He has not got the necessary approval from the Chief Minister even after six months. We defeated the BJP and voted Congress to power as we had thought that Congress would do something better for the people. Now, we have realised that Congress has gone a step ahead when compared to the communal BJP in anti-worker governance. Priyank Kharge is not interested in paying the panchayat employees even though there is enough money in the treasury. We are fed up with holding meetings with officials and discussing our demands. We are now left with no option but to intensify our agitation,” Mr. Nadagouda said.

M.B. Nadagouda, president of Karnataka State Gram Panchayat Association, addressing the protesters near Mahatma Gandhi statue at Public Garden in Kalaburagi on October 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
ARUN KULKARNI

Criticising the Congress government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge, who often claim that their government had walked the talk, Mr. Nadagouda reminded them of the government’s assurances given to agitating panchayat employees at Freedom Park in Bengaluru during the last monsoon session of the legislature, and questioned why the government failed to fulfil a single demand.

“During the Freedom Park agitation, the government had promised to fulfil our demands within a week. Now, three months are over, and no demand has been met. Priyank Kharge had promised ₹6,000 pension and ₹3,000 increment to panchayat employees. The files regarding these promises are gathering dust in Vidhana Soudha and Mr. Priyank is least concerned about them,” Mr. Nadagouda said.

Trade union leader M.B. Sajjan accused Mr. Priyank of pressuring the police not to allow the gram panchayat workers to stage a demonstration outside his residence in Kalaburagi.

“Acting upon the Minister’s directions, the police officers are forcibly taking written undertakings from labourers’ leaders to curtail the latter’s right to protest against injustice and exploitation. The Congress leaders talk volumes about the Constitution and the democratic rights it guarantees to citizens. However, the very same government is curbing workers’ rights to protest against injustice,” Mr. Sajjan said.

Their demand included considering tax collectors, clerks, data entry operators, watermen, peons and cleaning workers as government employees, increasing wages of gram panchayat workers to ₹31,000 as per the rising prices of essential commodities, allowing gram panchayat employees to avail transfer from one gram panchayat to another, increasing the tax collectors as per the revenue generated in a gram panchayat, and creating a post of Account Assistant at each gram panchayat.

District president of Karnataka Prantha Sangha Sharanabasappa Mamshetty and district secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) K. Neela were among those who participated in the event.