Mass leave brings collectorate to a halt

KOLHAPUR: Over 600 workers at the district collectorate here and other revenue offices across the district went on mass leave on Thursday demanding cancellation of the suspension of a clerk from the district disaster management department.
District collector Amit Saini has suspended Sushant Patil on July 20 for failing to provide information sought by him.
The association of revenue officials claimed that the clerk was given additional charge and he should have been communicated through the resident district collector.
The mass leave left the collectorate deserted except a few fresh recruits and senior officials. Hence, hardly any work could happen on Thursday at the collectorate. The 12 offices under the revenue department across the district, six sub-divisional offices, land acquisition, food distribution and other departments also could not function because of the mass leave. In some offices, only the senior-most officials were present.
Vilas Kurane, deputy chairman of the State Revenue Employees Association said, “The district collector has suspended a clerk last month for failing to provide particular information. He did not see the fact that the clerk was having a lot of workload. In such a situation, the collector should have shown some patience and communicated him as well as other officials concerned properly before taking such strong action against the clerk.”
“Some of my colleagues from the revenue department have said that the language of the collector was not proper. Being a junior employee does not mean that you can shout at him,” Kurane added.
The association said that the mass leave is just a warning. If the suspension is not revoked, they will go on indefinite strike from August 16 against the working style of the collector.
This is one of the rare occasions when the district collector has received such strong opposition.
When contacted, Saini said, “I had sought the information almost two months ago, but the clerk failed to provide it. His inaction has resulted into the district losing financial allocation of Rs 50 to Rs 60 lakh. It is unfair to say that I am unfair to the staff.”
Saini also said that no official or representative from the association came to meet him. “First I got a letter of their demands by post and it has demanded action on other officials concerned. I initiated action and issued notices to them. Then I got another letter stating that they would go on strike. I cannot help such behaviour as no one has come forward and talked to me.”
The collector also justified his direct communication with Patil. “He is working under me. To save time, I asked him directly to get the information. One cannot forget the fact that I have asked for the information two months ago; still he failed to provide. I have to take action in such situations.”
Saini was out of his office on Thursday to hold a meeting with district superintendent of police Manojkumar Sharma regarding the Jotiba temple development plan.