'No work, no pay' will be strictly implemented: Omar

Srinagar, Apr 8 :Calling upon officers to ensure that people are not put to any inconvenience due of strike by employees, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said 'no work, no pay' provision shall be strictly implemented. The resolve of the government in this regard remains undeterred; Mr Abdullah said at a high level meeting of Divisional Administration and heads of departments here last evening. However, he said the government has not closed its doors for negotiations and urged the employees to resume their duties in the larger public interest. He said the government is committed to fulfill the genuine demands of the employees most of which have already been met. He said government requires a whopping sum of Rs 4200 crore to disburse the arrears on account of implementation of the Sixth Pay commission recommendations for which resources have to be arranged. The Chief Minister called upon the officers to ensure that the people are not put to any inconvenience due to the strike of the employees and exhorted upon them to ensure that the contingency plans are fully implemented. ''Our primary responsibility is to provide services to the greater population who expect effective delivery of services,'' he said adding that efforts should be made to provide the services across the board with focus on essential services particularly Education, health, drinking water, electricity and public distribution. Mr Abdullah said, ''we are committed to the people of the state and not to ourselves.'' He adding that no effort should be left to serve the population of the state in a way they expect us to do. Expecting an early resolution to the problem, the Chief Minister said his government has always taken an extra step to fulfil the genuine demands of its employees. He said, ''Despite financial resources we were among the first few states in the country to implement the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission and during last year the government incurred an extra expenditure of Rs 1800 crore on the demands of our employees.'' He said the employees must understand that the situation cannot be pushed beyond a certain point and appealed them to resume work and come forward for the discussions to find an amicable solution to the problem. (UNI)