A five-member delegation from the Joint Forum of State Government Employees met West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on Sunday, a day after he expressed his “deep pain” at seeing government workers continuing their hunger strike for a raise in dearness allowance (DA) for the fourth week. The forum participants reported that the Governor gave the delegation assurances during the 30-minute meeting that he would act as a mediator between the state and the protesters to find a peaceful resolution.

For the past 31 days, the state government led by Mamata Banerjee has been the subject of a protest by the Joint Forum of Government Workers calling for more DA. “The Governor has assured us that he will arrange a meeting between the protesters and CM Mamata Banerjee to solve the issue on respectful terms,” said Bipul Roy, a member of the delegation.

The Joint Forum of State Government Employees called for a state-wide strike on Friday, and in the meantime, the West Bengal government is getting ready to issue show-cause notices to those employees who took part and failed to come to work.

The West Bengal Accounting Department had issued a circular on Thursday informing state government employees that no leaves will be allowed on Friday. Only there will be exceptions “in case of hospitalisation, a death in the family, severe illness or absence continuing before March 9 or to those already on childcare, maternity and medical leave or those with prior sanctioned earned leaves”.