CHANDIGARH: With the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections less than six months away, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government faces anti-incumbency, with around seven lakh government employees stepping up demands over pensions, pay scales and dearness allowance.
The employee and pensioners unions have now announced a 'Maha bandh' on August 27.
The demands come amid Punjab's financial constraints, as current projections place the state's total outstanding debt at approximately Rs 4.47 lakh crore.
The bandh will involve shutdowns, road dharnas and coordinated action with farmer organisations. The strike could affect various government departments, including outpatient departments of government hospitals, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited and transport services.
Punjab government employees presently get 42 per cent dearness allowance, compared with 60 per cent for Central government employees.
The decision was taken at a meeting of various employee and pensioner organisations affiliated with the Punjab Employees and Pensioners Joint Front and the Punjab Joint Employees Platform.
The leaders discussed preparations for the August 27 shutdown and chalked out a strategy to ensure maximum participation.
In this regard, an emergency meeting was held by the Punjab Civil Services (Executive) Retired Association.
During the meeting, the association extended its support to the call given by the employees and pensioners. The employees' unions accused the Punjab government of failing to fulfil assurances given to employees and pensioners before coming to power.
They said several demands had remained unresolved for years, leading to growing resentment among employees and pensioners.
These organisations are demanding the immediate release of all pending DA instalments and full implementation of the Old Pension Scheme and have also sought reconsideration of the decision to implement salary scales on the Central Government pattern, stating the move should be reviewed in the interest of employees.
The other major demand is the withdrawal of the three-year probation period imposed on newly recruited employees and related orders that these employee organisations have described as anti-employee.
The employee bodies have also demanded the implementation of decisions passed by the Double Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in favour of employees.
According to the organisations, employees from schools, colleges, the electricity department, SDM offices, tehsils, revenue offices and other administrative departments are expected to participate in the strike.
Both contractual and regular employees have been urged to join the protest.
The employees' organisations said employees would take collective leave from duty and participate in demonstrations against the state government’s policies.
Employees’ leaders warned that the August 27 shutdown would not mark the end of the agitation and added that if the Punjab government failed to address their demands after the protest, the movement would be intensified and expanded further.
On Sunday, government employees gathered at Tolewal grain market in Sangrur and marched three kilometres to Satauj, the home town of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, demanding implementation of the Old Pension Scheme.
On August 22, the Elementary Trained Teachers' Union protested outside Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema's official residence here, demanding state pay scales instead of central scales for employees covered by a July 17, 2020, government notification.
Before that, on August 7, the Sanjha Mulazam Manch organised a major mobilisation demanding the release of pending dearness allowance arrears.
In July, sanitation workers from more than 150 urban local bodies went on strike, seeking a monthly wage of Rs 40,000 and job regularisation.
Meanwhile, employees of the Punjab State Power Corporation, MGNREGA, National Health Mission and several other departments have also staged protests in the recent past.
Digvijay Pal Sharma, president of the Democratic Teachers Front, said that before the AAP government came to power, Harpal Singh Cheema had participated in dharnas against the then Congress government and had then assured employees that the July 17, 2020 notification would be annulled once AAP came to power.