Ranchi Municipal Employees to Protest on August 20 Over Pending Appointments and Pension Cuts

Long-pending issues concerning Ranchi Municipal Corporation employees and their dependants are set to come to the forefront, with the Municipal Employees' Union announcing a protest on August 20.

The union will demonstrate outside the Directorate of Urban Administration, seeking action on several unresolved matters, including compassionate appointments for dependants of deceased employees, pension reductions for retired staff and the rules governing family pension.

The union has also written to the Director of the Directorate of Urban Administration, urging the authorities to take an early decision on the pending issues.

Compassionate appointments remain pending

One of the key demands concerns dependants of deceased municipal employees who have been waiting for compassionate appointments for a long time.

According to the union, appointments of dependants of deceased employees who had passed or not passed matriculation are stuck because the required posts have not been created.

The union said there are 37 dependants of municipal employees who have passed Class 12. The appointment process for 16 of them is currently underway, while the cases of the remaining 21 are pending because posts have not been sanctioned.

The union has suggested that vacant posts created after some municipal employees were transferred to other local bodies could potentially be used to accommodate eligible dependants. It has urged the government to take a decision on the matter without further delay.

Protest against 20% pension reduction

The union is also opposing a 20% reduction in the pensions of retired municipal employees.

It said retired employees were earlier receiving pensions on par with state government employees based on a High Court order. However, following an April 25 order issued by the Urban Development and Housing Department, pension payments were reduced by 20%.

The union has demanded that the decision be reconsidered and that retired employees be restored to the earlier pension arrangement.

Family pension issue also raised

Another major concern relates to family pension for widows and dependants of deceased municipal employees.

The union said it has been informed that family pension benefits are being provided for only five years. It has questioned the justification for such a limitation and demanded a review of the existing arrangement.

The organisation has pointed to other social security schemes of the government while arguing that the family pension provision should be reconsidered to provide greater financial security to affected families.

Two compassionate appointment cases pending

The union has separately raised the cases of Sonia Kachhap and Rajni Tirkey, whose compassionate appointments are reportedly pending because their service books are unavailable.

The union has requested the concerned authorities to resolve the service-book issue so that the appointment process for both dependants can move forward.

With several issues remaining unresolved, the Municipal Employees' Union is preparing to take its demands to the streets on August 20. The response of the Urban Administration Directorate and the state government to the protest could determine whether the long-pending matters move towards resolution.