The Central government has taken measures to deal with the two-day strike called by some Trade Unions from today. The government has warned employees of consequences including deduction in wages and disciplinary action if they take part in the strike. In a directive, the Department of Personnel and Training has written to the Secretaries of all Central government Ministries not to sanction any kind of leave to the employees during the days of strike.

The Government has again appealed to bank employees not to join the strike called by the Trade Unions. Expressing disappointment over the strike, it said that there is no reason for bank employees to join the strike as none of the main points contained in the charter of demands of Trade Unions are connected to them.

The Delhi government has taken all preventive and safety measures to avoid any untoward incident and smooth running of public transport. The DTC has been asked to ensure maximum outshedding of buses from the depots so that passengers could reach their destination easily.

Maharashtra Chief Secretary, J K Banthia has said that the administrative machinery of the state government is fully geared to tackle the strike. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai yesterday, Mr. Banthia said that necessary steps have been taken to ensure that basic utilities like electricity, water supply, health and public transport are not hampered due to the strike.

Earlier, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had made an appeal to the Trade Unions not to go on strike.Senior Cabinet Ministers, A.K. Antony, Sharad Pawar and Mallikarjun Kharge had held discussions with the representatives of the Central Trade Unions on Monday night. The meeting was called to convey the serious intent of the government to resolve the issues raised by the Trade Unions. The Ministers explained the various measures taken by the government to control price-rise and contain inflation in the country.

However, Union leaders during the meeting, reiterated their demand for concrete measures to contain price rise, to ensure employment generation, strict enforcement of labour laws and universal social security for workers.