Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has no consideration for govt employees: Yeddyurappa

Even as Karnataka is all set for the Legislative Council elections, BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa said that the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been handling issues that concerned government employees, without “humanitarian consideration”, reported The Hindu.  Police Welfare Association President V Shashidhar was planning to head a strike on 4 June, protesting exploitation, low pay and poor working conditions. Following this, the state government warned against the planned agitation and threatened to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (Esma) for maintaining public order and safety across the state. [caption id=“attachment_1640661” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  BS Yeddyurappa. AFP[/caption] Despite the warning, the Karnataka state police association, which includes a 60,000 constabulary force has decided to push forward with their en masse leave on Saturday. Shashisdhar alleged that constables were being forced to work for irregular and long hours, without proper leave mechanism and harassment by senior officers. Bengaluru Police Commissioner NS Megharikh said that a case had been registered at Yelahanka New Town police station and that “Shahidhar has been arrested and presented before local court, which remanded him to judicial custody till 16 June.” The Hindu report also quoted Yeddyurappa as saying that Siddaramaiah had no time to listen to government employees and that it wasn’t necessary to arrest Shashidhar at midnight. An India Today piece said that the Health and Family Welfare Department had issued directions to government hospitals for not issuing medical certificates for policemen based on health grounds for 4 June, the day of the planned strike. The police personnel have also received support from the Opposition, which asked the government to revise salaries, instead of taking a strict stance to quieten the protests, it added. Karnataka passed the Esma Bill in 2013 , making striking at work a non-bailable offence and giving the police the authority to arrest a striking employee without warrant. The bill is supposed to put an end to employees working in water, power, health, transport and service sectors going on strikes, inconveniencing people. As per the bill, the definition under Esma for essential services include any service connected with the production, generation, storage, transmission, supply or distribution of water or electricity and any transportation service for the carriage of passengers or goods by motor vehicles. It gives government the power to declare even those services that the state has powers to make laws for under List II of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, as essential services. Upon conviction, those who commence a strike or continue to go on strike or takes part in any strike will be punished with a sentence up to one year or with fine up to Rs 5,000 or both. Those instigating or financing strikes also face the same punishment.