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J&K state employees up in arms against plan to reduce retirement age

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

State government employees in Jammu and Kashmir are up in arms on the issue of reducing their retirement age from 58 to 55 years.

Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah recently announced that his government is planning the change to help generate employment for tens of thousands of youth in the state.

"I have decided to reverse my earlier decision and go back to 55 years," the chief minister said.

State government employees in the valley struck work on February 1 and 2 to protest against the plan. They are particularly upset that the change is being effected at a time when the retirement age for central government employees has been raised to 60.

"Abdullah is harassing us poor employees when he and his ministers are spending without accountability. Corruption is widespread in the administration," says Bashir Ahmad Ganaie of the Employees' Conference.

If the proposal goes through, more than 40,000 employees serving various state government departments will be out of jobs. Administrative difficulties apart, the decision has serious financial implications as well. Terminal benefits to the retiring employees, estimated at a total Rs15,000 million, will have to be paid in one go. These include gratuity, provident fund and commutation. All this when the state is going through its worst financial crisis.

State employees blame the administration for the crisis. Abdullah has two helicopters and a Beechcraft for his personal use, and spends tens of millions on flying during a financial crisis, one employee said.

Another leader of the employees said austerity measures announced by government have not been implemented.

There is also some confusion since most senior bureaucrats and policy planners in Abdullah's administration belong to the Indian Administrative Service and cannot be retired early. Local employees see this as an effort to give non-locals an advantage.

Finally, Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Khurshid Ganaie surprised everyone when he categorically denied that the government was considering any such proposal.

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