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Auditors from different government bodies continue their protest demanding to upgrade their salaries to tenth grade.
On Monday, auditors from different parts of the country gathered at the Office of the Controller General of Accounts in Segunbagicha and participated in a protest programme.
“We’re subjected to disparity as two different salary structures exist for the same position. This can’t be an administrative decision. The authority has to resolve our issue morally and with responsibility,” said Ahmadur Rahman Dalim, spokesperson for the protesters said.
As many as 7,000 officers of the 11th grade from different offices under the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Controller General of Accounts (CGA) and Controller General of Defence Finance (CGDF) have abstained from work since Aug 25. However, they have now started a hunger strike as their demand was not met.
A few years ago, a total of 61 auditors had their salaries upgraded to 10th grade following a writ petition. Some others followed them and received a court order to lift their salary grades.
However, the protesters complained that no one else was able to upgrade their salaries due to a ‘negative quarter’ in the finance department.
To address the issue, the deputy controller general of accounts (personnel) wrote to the finance secretary on Aug 12, the protesters said. The finance department wrote to the law and judiciary department the next day seeking their opinion.
On Aug 20, the law and judiciary department opined that the auditors’ salaries could be lifted to the tenth grade. However, there was no progress on the issue and the auditors went on work stoppage from Aug 25.
“We have been staging protests for a long time to realise our demand of salary upgrading. The authorities have not paid any heed to our protest. Hence, we opted for this protest programme,” said auditor Shahinur Rahman of the CGA office.
Shahinur said that ‘each of the auditors’ in the country was ‘in solidarity to the protest.’ “Auditors at the audit and accounts departments nurture extreme frustration, disgruntlement and discontent. You can see that when you speak to them,” he said.
