India: Govt employees go on mass holiday in Uttarakhand

Dehradun, Jan 31 (PTI) Over 3.5 lakh government employees in Uttarakhand went on a mass holiday on Thursday in support of their 10-point charter of demands, including a hike in housing allowance and timely promotions.

Essential and emergency services like health, roadways, power and water supply were kept out of the ambit of the protest.

Taking a tough stand, the state government has enforced no work no pay order with secretary finance Amit Negi asking the director treasury to ensure disbursement of salaries only after verifying whether or not the employees did duty on January 31 and February 4 when the protesting employees plan to stage a mass rally in support of their demands.

Employees unions have threatened to declare a statewide shutdown if their demands are not fulfilled by February 4.