CHANDIGARH: With less than six months to go for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, a major confrontation appears to be brewing between the state government and nearly four lakh government employees, after the Aam Aadmi Party-led government took a strict view of the employees’ August 27 strike — one of the biggest protests by state government employees in recent years.
The government on Friday directed all administrative secretaries and heads of departments to issue show-cause notices to employees who remained absent from duty without authorisation during the strike. The move comes at a time when employee unions are preparing to decide their next course of action at a meeting on Sunday.
According to the government’s directions, employees found to have been “unauthorisedly absent” from duty during the strike will be issued show-cause notices and asked to explain why disciplinary action should not be initiated against them for proceeding on “unauthorised leave”.
The concerned departments have been directed to initiate action against employees who remained absent without prior permission or approval. Further action will be taken based on their responses to the show-cause notices.
Employee leaders, however, see the move as an attempt by the government to put pressure on them and force them back to the negotiating table, even as the unions weigh the possibility of intensifying their agitation.
Sukhchain Khera, convener of the Sanjha Mulazim Manch, said the government could not threaten employees with disciplinary action while simultaneously sending messages through officials that it was ready to pay 18 per cent DA and release arrears in three annual instalments.
“Both things cannot go side by side. We want to tell the government that we are not scared and will continue to exercise our democratic right to protest,” he said.
The unions are scheduled to meet on Sunday to decide their next course of action. The issuance of show-cause notices is expected to figure prominently in their deliberations, with employee leaders indicating that the government’s latest move could further escalate the confrontation rather than pave the way for a resolution.
Meanwhile, employee union leaders have also approached Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, seeking action against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for allegedly failing to attend a meeting with employees at the last minute on August 27. They have also demanded that one day’s salary of the Chief Minister be deducted for his absence.
In a representation to the Governor, the Sanjha Mulazim Manch alleged “negligence towards official responsibilities, administrative arbitrariness and wasteful expenditure of public funds” by the Chief Minister.
The employees’ body said the Punjab Government had officially scheduled a meeting between Mann and employee representatives on August 27 at the PAP Ground in Jalandhar to discuss their long-pending demands. The meeting had been fixed through an official communication issued on August 8.
However, the Chief Minister allegedly did not turn up for the meeting and, according to the employees, there was no prior intimation, substantive reason or authorised communication regarding his absence.
Nearly four lakh government employees, led by the Joint Action Committee of Employees and Pensioners and other employee organisations, had proceeded on mass casual leave on August 27 to press the government for the release of pending dearness allowance (DA), restoration of the Old Pension Scheme and resolution of a range of other long-standing service-related issues.