Government employees and pensioners staged a district-level protest outside the deputy commissioner’s office in Ludhiana on Thursday and announced that representatives of employee and pensioner organisations from across Punjab would meet in the city on August 30 to decide the next phase of their agitation.
Punjab State Ministerial Services Union senior leader Sunil Kumar said complete participation was also reported from the health department, civic body, PWD, Punjab Agricultural University and other government institutions. The protest was held as part of the state-wide bandh call by the Mulazam and Pensioners Sanjha Manch Punjab, with employees taking mass leave to participate. The impact was visible across government offices in Ludhiana, with the offices of the deputy commissioner, SDM, tehsildars, Education and Transport departments witnessing little activity. They also demanded reduction of the probation period to one year with full salary and allowances, regularisation of outsourced and contractual employees and removal of the typing-test condition for employees recruited on compassionate grounds. Punjab State Power Corporation Limited employees held a rally at the Sunder Nagar division before joining the district-level protest. The rally was jointly led by PSEB Employees Federation AITUC state secretary Gurpreet Singh Mehduana and TSU state vice-president Raghvir Singh. The leaders alleged that the government’s failure to hold a meeting with employee representatives despite a written invitation amounted to a betrayal of lakhs of employees and pensioners. Senior Congress leaders Sanjay Talwar, Simarjit Bains and Surinder Dawar also joined the protest and backed the employees.
More than 150 employee associations and unions, including pensioner organisations, took part in the agitation over their long-pending demands. Vikas Juneja, president of the DC Office Employees Association, claimed that all 1,267 employees at the Mini Secretariat were participating in the strike. The protesters sought restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission by withdrawing the July 17, 2020 notification, the ₹ 35,400 pay scale, release of pending DA instalments and arrears, and service benefits under the 4-9-14-year ACP scheme. The protesters raised the issue of 18% pending DA, alleging that the government had failed to release it despite directions from a double bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court. They also alleged that the July 17, 2020 notification had not been withdrawn despite the court setting it aside. They demanded implementation of the ₹ 35,400 pay scale, release of 18% DA, restoration of OPS, regularisation of contractual workers and filling of pending vacancies. Union leaders said the agitation would continue, with effigies of the chief minister to be burnt across Punjab on August 28 and 29 outside district, tehsil and block-level offices, government departments and institutions. Copies of what they described as the government’s anti-employee tweets and the August 27 letter would also be burnt.
Power employees said they were observing the protest by stopping work and gate rallies at division and circle levels.
