Jalandhar: Escalating its confrontation with protesting staff, the Punjab government is preparing to clamp down on lakhs of employees who participated in the statewide ‘maha-strike’ on August 27 by taking mass casual leave.
In a fresh communique sent to all administrative secretaries and department heads, the department of general administration directed disciplinary authorities to issue show-cause notices and initiate strict action under applicable service rules against staff marked absent without authorisation. Unions have reacted angrily to the threat of disciplinary action, warning that intimidation will backfire. Gurnam Singh Virk, the president of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union, declared that the government is mistaken if it believes warnings will crush employee resolve, adding that withdrawal of both the August 27 and August 29 letters will now be a prerequisite for any future negotiations.
This follows an earlier directive ordering officials to compile full lists of absentees.
Tensions flared after chief minister Bhagwant Mann abruptly cancelled a scheduled August 27 meeting in Jalandhar with the Joint Coordination Committee of government employees, posting on X that while staff are part of the state’s family, “dialogue and strikes cannot proceed together. The shutdown, organised by the Punjab Sanjha Mulazam Manch—an umbrella group of over 150 unions—paralysed state administrative machinery as roughly four lakh staff took leave, backed by 3.5 lakh pensioners protesting at district, sub-divisional, and block offices. As a result, government operations were hit with outpatient department (OPD) services in state-run hospitals suspended, public transport disrupted and schools and civic administrative offices closed.
