The Punjab government on Thursday extended an olive branch to protesting 4.2 lakh state employees, urging them to abandon “confrontation approach” and “return to the negotiating table” and offering them salary plus dearness allowance on par with central government staff.
Cheema stated the government is prepared to match the overall take-home salary of central government employees, asserting that Punjab already pays among the highest salaries in the country. “This financial reality has to be balanced against the state’s responsibility to fund schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and other essential services for the three crore people of Punjab. Sushil Kumar Fauji, convener of the Sanjha Mulazim Manch, stated that the government had already floated the idea of salary parity before HC.
The ministers’ appeal comes just days after the state government approached the Supreme Court to challenge a recent Punjab and Haryana high court directive asking the state to clear all pending DA and dearness relief arrears (roughly ₹ 14,000 crore) within a fortnight. Cheema said that since assuming power, the AAP government has steadily increased the DA from 28% to 42% (34% in October 2022, 38% in December 2023, and 42% in 2024). He accused previous administrations of leaving behind ₹ 14,000 crore in uncleared arrears, noting that the AAP government has already cleared ₹ 4,500 crore. Social security minister Kaur further clarified the statutory framework, saying that state salaries are governed by the Punjab civil services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2021, framed under Article 309 of the Constitution. “We had gone to meet the chief minister on August 27 but were denied an audience.
The government said that generating such a huge pay-out in two weeks was constitutionally and fiscally impossible. “Increasing the DA to 60% would place an additional annual burden of around ₹ 6,500 crore on the state exchequer,” said minister Arora. “These rules do not prescribe any fixed DA percentage or an automatic formula requiring Punjab to match the central government’s DA rate,” she said. Employees never wanted any confrontation, but the state government is forcing us to take drastic steps,” said Sahil Sharma, general secretary of the civil secretariat employees’ union. He said matching central pay requires setting up the Seventh Pay Commission, which is practically impossible now. Accusing the state of creating confusion after moving the top court, he said the employees stand firm on the immediate release of DA arrears.
Addressing a joint press conference on Thursday, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, flanked by his cabinet colleagues Aman Arora and Baljit Kaur, proposed an alternative to a mechanical DA hike.
“Employees are the backbone of good governance.
We appeal to the unions to recognise the political opportunism of opposition parties, which made promises before elections without making corresponding financial provisions,” industries and commerce minister Arora said. “We are ready to resolve outstanding issues across the table with chief minister Bhagwant Mann so that the interests of employees are protected without placing an unbearable burden on the people of Punjab,” he added.
