More than 1,500 employees of the Gujarat health department held a protest outside the State Secretariat in Gandhinagar, even after the Gujarat government on Thursday late night announced a hike in salary.
The State government had initially issued a stern warning to the employees to withdraw the agitation but doubled back to accept two of their demands — pay revision by ₹4,000 per month (but without change in pay grade) and 130 days Covid-19 duty pay for the days of work during the second wave last year.
However, the employees are adamant on change in their pay grade and restoration of old pension scheme, the latter of which has been a prominent pre-poll promise of the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the State election. Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently announced that they would implement the old pension scheme if voted to power.
