MUMBAI, April 22 -- Government and semi-government employees in Maharashtra, including teachers, non-teaching staff and hospital employees, began an indefinite strike on April 21 on the issue of implementation of the Revised National Pension Scheme (RNPS) and other concerns. However, it failed to elicit much response-3,611 of the 7,678 Mantralaya employees remained present at work, while Class 1 and Class 2 employees across Maharashtra did not participate at all. The state government threatened employees with a pay cut for participating in the strike but did not initiate any dialogue with the employees' union as the response to the strike was lukewarm. The Coordination Committee for Government, Semi-Government, Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff had announced the strike to demand the implementation of the RNPS, recruitment to vacant posts, a cashless medical insurance scheme of Rs.5 lakh, increase of the retirement age from 58 years to 60 and a lifting of the ban on the recruitment of Class 4 employees. However, thanks to the indifferent response, the strike did not have a significant impact on the working of the government administration. In Mumbai, some operations were postponed at St George's Hospital and Cama Hospital but J J Hospital functioned as always. According to officials, of the two unions of nursing staff, one did not participate in the strike. Some government employees across the state staged protests at the district and tehsil levels but these too were not really impactful. Ashok Dagade, president of the Coordination Committee, claimed that around 70% to 80% of Class 3 and Class 4 employees and teachers, as well as non-teaching staff, participated in the strike across the state. However, he admitted, the state government had not initiated any dialogue with the union about their demands. "So far, we have not received any response from the state government on this. Our strike will continue," he said. On Tuesday evening, a Coordination Committee delegation informally met O P Gupta, additional chief secretary, finance, who reportedly heard them out. The union leaders told him that they expected a formal discussion with the chief secretary or chief minister on their concerns....