Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national leader, stated on Sunday that if his party is elected to power in Gujarat, he will make contractual staff permanent and impose ‘same labour, equal compensation,’ news agency PTI reported.
Addressing a town hall with outsourced and contractual employees, Kejriwal also stated that if his party is elected, he will abolish the contract system so that money goes straight into the employees’ bank accounts without any intermediaries taking anything away.
Assembly elections in Gujarat, which the Bharatiya Janata Party has ruled for the previous 27 years, are expected to take place in December.
“I can see that every government is slowly ending government jobs. They say they (contract workers) do not work when they are made permanent. It is wrong to say that a government employee does not work if he is made permanent. He works if he is given respect and full salary,” Kejriwal was quoted by PTI in its report.
“If we form a government, all contractual employees will be made permanent. And we will do so properly so that the court does not grant a stay later on,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal stated, with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on his side, that 36,000 contractual staff in Punjab will be made permanent. He has hired 8,500 permanent instructors.
It would take time to guarantee that there is no judicial stay when they are declared permanent, according to Kejriwal.
“We will also implement ‘equal work, equal pay.’ There is not much cost in implementing it. Their (state government) intention is not right. We are the party of the poor and deprived and we understand your problem. We will give you respect and full salary,” he said.
He stated that an AAP administration in the state will abolish the contractor system, and that contractual employees will be paid straight into bank accounts until they are regularised, so that the contractor does not collect a commission.
Government employment would be awarded only on merit, with no referral mechanism in place, he stressed.
According to the Delhi CM, contractual staff would also receive free power up to 300 units and healthcare from a network of 20,000 mohalla clinics, while women will receive Rs 1,000 per month.
Speaking on the occasion, Punjab CM Mann stated that his government had accomplished what previous administrations had failed to do in the previous 70 years, adding that contractual staff in the northern state were progressively being regularised.
(With Inputs From PTI)
