Around 1,000 central government employees will hold a peaceful march on Thursday outside the Shastri Bhawan in the national Capital Delhi to press their demands related to promotion in the cadre, filing of vacancies and release of the 2022 cadre review committee (CRC) report.
The peaceful march will be followed by another march on March 11 outside the Nirman Bhawan and, on March 13 outside the North Block.
The Central Secretariat Service (CSS) Forum in a statement on Monday said it will be a peaceful march but also threatened of a “full fledge non-cooperation movement if the government does not wake up from its deep slumber on cadre review matter”.
On Monday afternoon, hundreds of CSS employees protested by holding a peaceful march at the Raisina Hills, near the offices of the different ministries including home and defence.
The forum’s general secretary, Ashutosh Mishra said, “Ours is a peaceful march. We are not politically motivated. We work with the central government. We will protest and later rejoin work at the different ministries. We will hold peaceful protests to make our voices heard. The next protest is on March 7. We are only asking for the findings of the high-level cadre review committee that was constituted on October 27, 2022. More than one and a half years have passed. The findings should be released.”
The cadre review committee (CRC) was formed in October 2022 to assess the demand of manpower across ministries, in the backdrop of the government’s schemes and projects, and to suggest steps for better cadre management and career progression of staff members of central secretariat.
Mishra said the forum had information that “the deliberations of the committee were completed long ago but the matter is still pending with the government.”
“We accessed information through the Right to Information (RTI) Act and found that at least 20 departments of the government of India have sent requisition of more than 2,500 posts. The number will be huge if data from all ministries are taken. Due to delay in submission of report of the cadre review committee, these departments are crippling with shortage of manpower. There is also stagnation in almost each grade of CSS due to which, officers are distressed and dismayed. Even after one and a half years of the committee’s formation, it has not submitted its report. Officers who were eligible for promotion are retiring every month. Our demand is legitimate,” said Mishra adding that after Monday’s march, the government is yet to send any word on the demands made by the forum.
