Manipur govt employees' strike enters ninth day; Rs 13.28 crore loss reported

Guwahati: The Manipur Government Services Federation (MGSF) has threatened to intensify its cease-work strike, which entered its ninth day on Thursday, as the State Government has yet to meet its seven-point charter of demands.

The prolonged agitation has severely disrupted the functioning of government offices across Manipur, bringing administrative processes to a near standstill and causing widespread inconvenience to the public.

The federation launched the indefinite cease-work strike on 1 July, demanding enhancement of the retirement age of State Government employees from 60 to 62 years, increase of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) from the existing 42 percent to 60 percent in line with Central Government employees, implementation of the 8th Pay Commission, scrapping of the National Pension System (NPS) and Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) in favour of restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), an end to the re-engagement of retired employees on a preferential basis, discontinuation of contractual appointments against sanctioned vacant posts, regularisation of contractual, casual, master roll and daily wage employees, restoration of Saturday as a weekly holiday, and service protection for Grade-III and Grade-IV AYUSH Medical Officers.


Although government offices across the State continue to witness near-normal attendance, official work has come to a virtual standstill as employees on cease-work refrain from processing files and carrying out routine administrative functions. The movement of files in many departments has been severely disrupted, resulting in delays in administrative approvals, financial sanctions, payment processing, encashment permissions, and the delivery of several essential government services.

The prolonged disruption has affected citizens awaiting official clearances and has slowed the implementation of numerous developmental programmes.

According to a senior official in the State Finance Department, who requested anonymity, the cease-work strike has resulted in an estimated productive loss equivalent to Rs 1.66 crore per day. The estimate is based on the State Government's annual salary expenditure of approximately Rs 606 crore on the employees participating in the agitation. Averaged over a calendar year, this amounts to about Rs 1.66 crore per day. Accordingly, the cumulative productive loss during the first eight days of the cease-work strike is estimated at Rs 13.28 crore, excluding the wider economic costs arising from stalled governance, delayed public services, and deferred developmental activities.

Officials pointed out that the estimated financial loss represents only the direct daily cost of the cease-work strike. The broader economic impact arising from stalled governance, delayed public services, disrupted administrative processes, and deferred developmental projects is likely to be considerably greater, although its full extent cannot yet be quantified.

The disruption comes at a crucial period for the State Government, which has a limited administrative window before the next Manipur Legislative Assembly elections, expected in February–March 2027.

Administrative observers believe that an early resolution of the impasse would be in the interest of both the Government and the public to minimise further disruption to governance and economic activity.

In an effort to resolve the deadlock, representatives of the MGSF recently met Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh. According to leaders of the federation, the Chief Minister assured them that the Government would consider revoking the order that cancelled Saturday holidays for State Government employees. However, he reportedly sought additional time to examine the remaining demands.

The employees' federation stated that it is considering intensifying its agitation if satisfactory progress is not made on its principal demands.

Prior to meeting the Chief Minister, representatives of the federation also held discussions with the Chief Secretary, Puneet Kumar Goel on July 3, although no concrete breakthrough emerged from the talks.

Among the seven demands, the federation has identified three as its immediate priorities: restoration of Saturday as a weekly holiday, enhancement of Dearness Allowance to bring it on par with Central Government employees and raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 years.

Following ethnic violence which broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, and the state witnessed unrest and curfew for several days, the state government withdrew the Saturday holiday to make up for the time lost.