The attitude of the employees became stricter, protests by employees unconcerned by heavy rains in Sector 17

Chandigarh February 3, 2021 (      ) Hundreds of Punjab Government employees today reached Sector 17, Chandigarh and chanted slogans against the Punjab Government. It is pertinent to note that the government is failing to deliver on the promises made in the meetings even after taking major action by the employees’ unions in the recent past. On 07.10.2021, a committee of the Cabinet had met the conveners of the Pensioner Front and Sanjha Mulazam Manch Punjab and U.T and promised to accede to various demands. While the government is eliminating thousands of posts in the name of restructuring of all departments. The Financial Commissioner is in the process of merging with the Secretariat and the Civil Secretariat. The fear of stagnation is being expressed by the employees. Government had not fulfilled even a single promise that were made to the employees in its manifesto. Now the employees have lost faith in the government. On the other hand, the government is preparing to declare the posts of class-4 and drivers as deminishing cadre, which shows the intention of the government to fill these posts in government departments by outsourcing or contracting out. Promises of perpetuation are being scrapped.

Addressing the employees, Sukhchain Singh Khehra, President, Punjab Civil Secretariat Staff Association and Convener of the Joint Employees Forum, said that from time to time governments, be it the BJP government or the Congress government, looted employees, workers, farmers and small traders. The Congress government in Punjab is following in the footsteps of the BJP government and just as the BJP government is oppressing the farmers, the Punjab government is on the path of oppressing its employees and workers.There has never been a weak government like the Congress government which does not anticipate that if the posts in the departments of Punjab are abolished then the problem of rising unemployment in the state will become more serious. The conveners of the Manch warned the employees that if the employees remained indifferent even today, the time to come would prove to be very fatal for the employees. He said that what can be expected from the government of a state whose finance minister is not having Finance at all. None of the promises made by the Congress government in its manifesto has been fulfilled so far. The Employees’ Pay Commission, which was due in 2016, has not yet submitted a report to the government even after passage of four years. While the government has reduced the pay scale of new employees to the level of the Govt. Of India, the DA of existing employees has been freezed. The installments and arrears of D.A is still lying pending with the Government. At the rally, the employees vowed to oppose the Congress candidates in the forthcoming municipal elections. Mr. Sukchain Singh Khehra said that by ignoring the 8 lakh votes of the employees, the government was axing its own feet. Employee leaders said that this is the final year of the government and if the government still does not accept the pending demands of the employees, the employees will initiate a big struggle in the near future. He further said that the main demands of the employees include their outstanding DA, DA. Arrears, Consolidation of Outsource / Work Charged / Ad Hoc / Contractual Employees, Old Pension Scheme, Refund of Development Tax, recruitment of Class IV and Drivers on regular basis, and cashless health scheme for employees were also discussed. Mr. Sukhchain Khehra said that a large gathering of the employees would be held on February 12, 2021 in Mohali regarding these pending demands. Mr. Ranjiv Sharma (Coordinator), Mr. Jagdev Kaul, Mr. Gurmel Singh Sidhu, Mr. Khushwinder Kapila, Mr. Parvinder Khangura, Mr. Jagji from Panchayat Department Mr. Ranjiv Sharma (Coordinator), Mr. Jagdev Kaul, Mr. Gurmel Singh Sidhu, Mr. Khushwinder Kapila Parvinder Khangura, Jagjit Singh from Panchayat Department, Navraj Singh from Water Resources Department, Sukhwinder Singh, Jaswinder Singh Kainoor, Samuel Masih, Amarjit Singh, Jatinder Singh Chadha, Bachittar Singh, Surinder Singh, Mandeep Singh Sidhu, Kamaljit Kaur from Finance and Planning Department, Davinder Benipal from Industries Department, Sukhchain Singh from Transport Department, Kulwant Singh, Alka Chopra from Financial Commissioner Secretariat, Gurdeep Singh from Home Guard Department, Gurpreet Singh Garcha, Sushil Kumar, Manjit Singh, Jaspreet Randhawa, Sukhjit Kaur , Manjinder Kaur, Mandeep Kaur, Gurveer Singh, Mandeep Singh Chaudhary, Inderpal Singh Bhangu, Sahil Sharma etc. from Punjab Civil Secretariat Staff Association participated. Founder member of Punjab Ministerial Union Mr. Khushal Singh Naga was especially present on this occassion.