Imphal, February 25: chief minister of Manipur, O Ibobi today gave a few words of caution to the Joint Administrative Council (JAC) of All Manipur Trade Unions' Congress (AMTUC) and All Manipur Government Employees' Organisation (AMGEO) which is spearheading the ceasework strike of the employees of the State government demanding pay hike in consonance with the recommendation of the Sixth Pay Commission.

While appealing to the JAC to call off the ceasework strike, Chief Minister Ibobi told them that it would be right on part of the JAC to see how far they could go on with the strike. If they went on with the cease-work strike as far as violating the Essential Services Act, then they will have to go to jail, the Chief Minister warned.

The Chief Minister was speaking at a function held at the Indoor Stadium, Khuman Lampak Sports Complex organised by the Sports Department to observe Shannaroisinggee Numit (Sportpersons' Day) and to distribute Incentative State Sports Awards-2004 to excellent sports persons of Manipur.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister further said that the government had already informed the JAC that the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission would be implemented starting from April this year. Therefore, the employees had better thought over it and stopped the cease-work strike.

He said, if the demands of the JAC including all the arrears are to be fulfilled, it would incur more than Rs 2,000 crore. The employees must understand that it is not possible to sell off all the properties under the government to fulfill their desires.

Chief Minister Ibobi reminded the striking employees that the governments of the neighbouring states such as Nagaland and Assam have not even given commitment to their respective employees to give the Sixth Pay Commission's pay scales. But in Manipur, the government has committed itself on giving the pay scales of the Sixth Pay Commission. Therefore, it would be in the best interest of all to withdraw the cease-work strike of the employees, Ibobi said.
He appealed to the JAC that it is just one more month that the employees have to wait till the government starts giving the pay scales of the Sixth Pay Commission.

The government has taken extra special steps to fix responsibility in order to prevent a financial crisis from evolving due to disruptions in the essential services, the Chief Minister said.

The government has also been insisting the 13th Finance Commission to give sufficient funds for paying the arrears under Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations. If the 13th Finance Commission does not give the separate funds for the same, the State government has no capacity at all to give the arrears, Chief Minister Ibobi said.

Encouraging the sports persons of the State, the Chief Minister said, a National Sports Academy has been established in Imphal. With the help of this Academy, a number of national and international level sportspersons in different disciplines would be produced and bring laurels not only of Manipur but also of India, he hoped.

In all, 109 sportspersons of different disciplines had already been given suitable appointments by the government. Steps for constructing mini sports complex in every district of the state are already being taken up, he said.

The remaining awards would be distributed on the next sportspersons day, the Chief Minister said. Totally, 772 excellent sportspersons of national and international level were given incentive state sports awards worth Rs 42,29,500.

The Manipur government has honoured 5,879 sportspersons till date and distributed Rs 2,93,25,010 cash incentives. Today, the Sports Department gave Rs 1,00,000 (1 lakh) each to archer L Bombela and Judoka Kh Tombi, who both took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Rs 25,000 was given to L Laxmi, the winner of silver medal in the Commonwealth Youth Games held at Pune.

Sports Minister, N Biren, MLAs Th Lokeshore and K Meghachandra and Commissioner, Sports L Lakher were attended today's function.
The Day has been observed annually since 2000 in commemoration of the victory of Manipur in the National Games-1999 on February 25.