(File photo)
Benaulim prawn hatchery employees at one of their meetings with former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado and Velim MLA Benjamin D’Silva.
REGULARISATION OF SERVICE
.....
MARGAO
Will the December 16 meeting convened by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar finally give relief and ring in good news for the 30 employees of the now defunct Benaulim Pilot Prawn Hatchery?
After running from pillar to post since the last several years with a plea to successive governments to absorb them in government departments with the hatchery lying in the dumps, the employees finally see a ray of hope that the Chief Minister and his government will resolve their long pending demand for absorption in government departments.
Ever since the pilot prawn hatchery was shut down around seven years ago, the beleaguered employees had been knocking the doors of successive Chief Ministers and the Fisheries Ministers with a plea to absorb them in government departments. Since they, most of the staffers have been rendering services in government offices such as the office of Fisheries Minister, office of Fisheries Secretary et al. Some of the staff deputed in the South Goa District Collectorate, Margao, are working in various sections in the offices of Collector, Deputy Collector, Mamlatdar and Joint Mamlatdar. Some of these employees have even completed four years in these offices, discharging their duties with diligence, though they face an uncertain future with successive governments dilly dallying in absorbing them either in the Fisheries department or any other government department.
Says a beleaguered employee, who is pinning his hopes on the December 16 meeting called by the Chief Minister: “We look forward for the December 16 meeting and hope that the meeting will ring in good news ahead of the New Year. We have petitioned to the Chief Minister, various ministers, besides MLAs and senior government officials to absorb us in government departments," he said.
The employees fear that they will all suffer in the long run, saying though some of the staff have completed 24 years of services, they are not eligible for certain benefits. Unlike other government employees, the prawn hatchery employees are not eligible for 6th pay salaries. It is learnt that though the 6th pay salaries was extended to the prawn hatchery employees, the same was later revoked by the higher authorities.
Hopes that the long pending issue concerning the prawn hatchery employees would be finally sorted out came when the Parrikar government returned to power in 2012. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado and Benaulim MLA Caitu Silva supported the demand of the employees when the trio descended at the prawn hatchery for the Sao Joao celebrations in 2012. Since then, there’s been umpteen number of meetings the employees had with the former Chief Minister and the Fisheries Ministers, but in vain. The meetings between the employees and the government continued after the Parsekar government came to power a year ago, with the employees now pinning hopes on the Chief Minister to resolve and cap the issue at the December 16 meeting.
