Bhubaneswar: The public services are likely to be affected in Odisha as employees went on mass leave from today for an indefinite period as mark of protest demanding a hike in grade pay.

As many as 50,000 employees sat on dharna in front of collectorates in all 30 districts of the state to mount pressure on the government to increase their grade pay from Rs 1900 to Rs 4200.

The government offices in many districts remained shut after employees went on leave from today. The state-wide strike by Odisha Ministerial Officers' Association (OMOA) affected office functioning.

According to reports, Odisha Ministerial Officers' Association (OMOA) has been demanding for hike in grade pay to Rs 4200 as per level 9 under Odisha Revised Scales of Pay (ORSP) Rules, 2017.

The association had placed its demand before the government in April this year. Later, the employees staged demonstration by wearing black badge. As it did not yield any positive result, the officers' body threatened to launch state-wide strike by boycotting office work from today.

"The employees had launched the symbolic protest from 22-5-2013 to 31-5-2023 in all the districts demanding hike in grade pay. Giving an ultimatum to the government to meet their demand during the period, they threatened to go on mass leave from June 1 till indefinite period if the latter fails to meet the demand," said an office bearer of Odisha Ministerial Officers' Association.

"We will not cooperate with the government in functioning of office till our demand is met. The mass leave and peaceful protest will continue till that period," said another member of OMOA.

The association threatened to intensify the strike in upcoming days to press their demand before the government.

"We will hit the streets in Bhubaneswar if the government did not consider grant our long-standing demand," said a protestor.