Odisha’s outsourced employees renew regularisation demand, warn of strike  

The outsourced employees in Odisha, who welcomed the government’s decision to put the outsourcing agencies under ‘Mo Sarkar’, have reiterated their demand for the regularisation of their jobs. They have also warned the government of resorting to strike if their demand is not fulfilled. 

The General Administration department has sought information regarding outsourcing agencies from different departments. Once the complete information is received, a guideline will be prepared for these agencies. 

The government will mark these agencies as outstanding, good and poor if they release salaries within three days, five days and seven days from the fixed date, respectively. Similarly, they will be marked as very bad if they release salaries seven days after the fixed date.

The outsourced employees welcomed such decisions but, at the same time, reiterated their demand for regularisation. 

“Since the outsourced agencies have been put under the 5T, we are assured that the employees would not be harassed. But we will continue our fight till our demand is not fulfilled,” said convenor, State Outsourcing Employees’ Association, Prabhat Mohanty. 

Echoing the same view, the president of State Outsourcing Employees’ Association, Sanjay Pattanayak said, “Our demand is still not fulfilled. The association members will hit the road if the demand is not fulfilled.”

The government’s decision to put the outsourced agencies under ‘Mo Sarkar’ has meanwhile initiated a political slugfest.

The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded that outsourced employees be regularised. 

“What the government is doing in the name of 5T and Mo Sarkar is nothing but a farce. If the government has sympathy for these employees, why don’t they (the BJD government) regularise their (outsourced employees) jobs? They should stop the farce intended to garner votes,” demanded president, BJP Yuva Morcha, Irashis Acharya. 

In response, BJD MLA Shashi Bhushan Behera said, “The decision is a good one and will go a long way in eradicating all the indiscipline in the system.”

(Reported by Harihara Chand and Soumya Ranjan Sahu, OTV)