Panchayat Secretaries Submit Memo Over 16 Demands In Maheshwar

Maheshwar (Madhya Pradesh): Panchayat secretaries in Maheshwar submitted a memorandum to district panchayat CEO Reena Chauhan, seeking action on their 16-point demands on Friday. The memorandum was submitted on the call of Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Secretary Organisation state president Narendra Singh Rajput.

The secretaries said they implement government welfare schemes at the gram panchayat level but are also being assigned work related to other departments, including the Swamitva Yojana and e-KYC. They said their workload has increased while their long-pending service-related demands remain unresolved.

Among the demands are merger of the Panchayat Secretary cadre with the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, exemption from revenue-related work, time-scale pay benefits, removal of pay discrepancies and implementation of a 50% departmental promotion quota for PCO posts. Other demands include encashment of 300 days of earned leave, cashless health insurance, prevention of unfair recovery under MNREGA and implementation of the old pension scheme.

The organisation also demanded gratuity and NPS payments for retired secretaries, an increase in the retirement amount from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and other service-related measures. The secretaries warned of phased protests followed by an indefinite work stoppage if their demands are not addressed.