I-T department employees observe countrywide strike

Officials of the striking unions said no work was conducted at these offices all day and the next plan of action will be decided on Sunday

About 50,000 employees of the income tax department observed a day-long countrywide strike on Monday, demanding redressal of their service-related demands from the government.

Officials of the striking unions said no work was conducted at these offices all day and the next plan of action could be decided on Sunday.

The I-T department has two prominent groups - the Income Tax Employees Federation (ITEF) and ITGOA - and they represent about 97 per cent of the workforce.

They cautioned they might intensify protests by not taking part in the vital search and survey operations to check tax evasion if their demands for timely promotion in cadres and providing required infrastructure and a few others were not met. This will impact the work of budget collection and taxpayer services are "bound to fail" in the coming days.

A CBDT official said while normal work suffered due to the strike, some "back-up arrangements" were made to keep things moving.

Business Standard, New Delhi, 9th Oct. 2015