Meetings of the federal parliament and committees under it are being affected by agitation of staffers who are demanding additional pay for working beyond office hours.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee Laxman Lal Karna had to shift the meeting for discussion with complainants against Cholendra Shumsher Rana, who has been recommended for the post of chief justice (CJ), from three Friday afternoon to Friday noon after pressure from staffers who pointed that the office hours end early on Friday.
Staffers of the parliament have started to work only from 10 in the morning till four in the afternoon even on week days saying they are not getting paid extra for working beyond office hours.
Staffers of the federal parliament were earlier getting paid extra for working beyond office hours. But the Cabinet had stopped that for austerity.
Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara has held many meetings with Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada about the issue of extra allowance but to no avail. Minister Khatiwada has been telling Speaker Mahara that he alone cannot take back the decision taken by the Cabinet.
The staffers had protested even when President Bidya Devi Bhandari called the first meeting of the federal parliament at four in the afternoon stating it was beyond office hours.
Meetings of parliamentary committees were earlier scheduled in the morning but they are no longer held in the morning now. Works of ministries are being affected as ministers and secretaries have to attend meetings of parliamentary committees in the afternoon.
The federal parliament had also stopped celebration of the 12
th Service Day on December 13 due to agitation of staffers.
