Aizawl: The All Mizoram CSS Employees Coordination Committee staged a state-wide sit-in demonstration today, demanding regularisation of their services under the CSS Employees Scheme.
In Aizawl, the protest was held at the Joint YMA Field, Vaivakawn, after the district administration prohibited gatherings of more than five people near the main secretariat, forcing organisers to shift from their initial venue at the MINECO Open Gym. Similar protests were also held across multiple districts of Mizoram.
The agitation comes after a three-day mass casual leave from September 9 to 11, which saw major disruptions in government services. Over 500 schools remained shut, several sub-centres and primary health centres closed, and work slowed down in departments such as RD&PR, UD&PA, Agriculture, and Horticulture.
Despite these actions, the state’s Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (DP&AR) had warned of strict measures against employees taking part in the protest. Meanwhile, the ZPM government has maintained that regularisation is not legally possible. Adviser to the Chief Minister, TBC Lalvenchhunga, had clarified earlier this week that the government could not regularise CSS employees as it would go against the law.
The employees, however, argue that their appeals for regularisation under the CSS Employees Scheme 2024 have been repeatedly ignored. They expressed dismay that while their demands were sidelined, the government had regularised 31 health workers and MR-skilled staff, which they allege reflects “favouritism.”
They were further angered by Chief Minister Lalduhoma’s Independence Day speech in which he stated that CSS employees were not recruited as per law. The Coordination Committee said this remark, coupled with the government’s refusal to address their grievances, had left them with no option but to intensify their protest.
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