Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 27 November 2023
Mr. Vishal Jolly, National Executive Member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), recently met with Mr. Gyanesh Kumar, Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India, to address the issue of salary disparities for employees in the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
During the meeting, Mr. Jolly raised concerns about the significant gap in salaries, pay scales, and grade pay for Assistant Registrars of Cooperative Societies (ARCS) and Inspectors of Cooperative Societies (ICS) in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands compared to their counterparts in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of New Delhi. He stressed that despite holding similar positions with identical responsibilities, employees in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were receiving considerably lower compensation, which he deemed unacceptable and unjustified.
Mr. Jolly highlighted that this discrepancy had been previously brought to the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare when the Cooperative Department operated under its jurisdiction. However, he lamented that the issue hadn’t received due consideration.
With the recent establishment of a separate Ministry for Cooperation, Mr. Jolly advocated for a fresh review of the matter. He emphasised that given the congruent nature of duties between employees in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and those in the NCT (New Delhi), there existed no valid reason to maintain such significant differences in pay scales.
In response, the Secretary of Cooperation, Government of India, assured Mr. Jolly of a reevaluation of the situation with a positive outlook and pledged to address the matter promptly.