The Joint Platform of State Government Employees, which comprises around 30 unions, on Tuesday resorted to cease-work for two hours in most offices in Bengal to demand immediate payment of their dearness allowance dues in compliance with a recent order of Calcutta High Court.

Employees at different government establishments, including courts, district magistrate offices, block development offices and educational institutions, observed the cease-work from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm. They also demanded that the government fill up around six lakh vacancies.

“A large number of state government employees went for the cease-work with their demand of immediate payment of DA. The time has come when our colleagues have hit the streets with their demands. If the government does not pay our due DA of 31 per cent, we will go for a major strike after the Durga Puja vacation,” said Bijoy Sankar Sinha, general secretary of the West Bengal Coordination Committee, a union of state government employees.

A division bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Rabindranath Samanta had directed the state government to clear the due DA within three months. Sources in the administration said it would need Rs 20,000 crore to clear the dues.

Members of the employees’ outfit staged a demonstration in front of Gate B of the high court demanding payment of DA on a par with that of central government staff as directed by the court immediately.

Teachers affiliated to the Burdwan University Teachers’ Association (BUTA), along with non-teaching staff, also observed the two-hour long cease-work on the Golapbag campus of the varsity.

The state government employees also agitated in front of different courts, block offices in districts like Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia, East Burdwan and Hooghly.

A source said the Centre had given 34 per cent DA (of the basic pay) to its employees after the seventh pay commission had been implemented in January 2016. In Bengal, the government has so far given 3 per cent DA after the sixth pay commission was implemented from January 2020. It means they didn’t get the DA at 34 per cent for around 30 months.

Earlier in August, the Bengal administration moved the high court seeking a revision of its order asking the state to pay DA to its employees on a par with that of the central government staff.