Protesting Punjab government employees under the banner of the Punjab Sanjha Mulazam Manch Committee on Sunday announced plans to intensify their agitation, warning that they would go on mass leave on September 8 if show-cause notices issued over their recent statewide strike are not withdrawn, reported PTI.
The decision was taken at a three-hour meeting of representatives of the protesting employees' bodies in Ludhiana to chalk out their next course of action.
The committee has given the AAP-led Punjab government until September 7 to withdraw the notices seeking explanations from employees for their alleged “unauthorised” absence during the statewide strike on August 27.
The state Personnel Department had earlier directed administrative secretaries and heads of departments to issue notices to employees who remained “unauthorised absent” and initiate disciplinary action against them as per rules.
More than three lakh government employees had participated in the August 27 strike by taking mass casual leave to press for their long-pending demands, affecting public services across the state. More than 150 employees' organisations had joined the ‘Maha Hartal’ under the Punjab Sanjha Mulazam Manch, while over 3.5 lakh pensioners also participated.
The unions announced several measures to escalate the agitation, including gheraoing the residences of AAP ministers and MLAs and forming a statewide human chain to mobilise public support.
The residences of senior ministers will be gheraoed on September 12 and 13, while those of other ministers and AAP MLAs will be targeted on September 19 and 20, the leaders said.
The unions also announced an ‘Employees’ Assembly’ in Chandigarh on September 30, to which MLAs from all 117 constituencies and the state's 13 Lok Sabha MPs will be invited to state their position on the employees' demands.
An ‘Employees’ Maha Rally’ will be held in Sangrur on October 10, with thousands of employees expected to participate. The unions also said they would observe two-day mass casual leave on October 21 and 22 if their demands remain unaddressed.
The protesters launched a campaign titled ‘Return of the Chief Minister from Chandigarh Secretariat to Satoj Village’, referring to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's native village and symbolising their demand that he leave the Secretariat until their grievances are resolved.
“If the USA and Iran can hold talks even during a war, why can't the government hold talks with the employees?” union leaders said at a joint press conference.
The leaders said the agitation would remain peaceful even if barricades were erected to prevent them from reaching ministers' residences.
They also demanded that the government withdraw the show-cause notices and refrain from deducting a day's salary from employees who participated in the August 27 strike.
The employees are seeking the release of pending 18 per cent dearness allowance (DA), implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and regularisation of contractual employees.
Their other demands include implementation of minimum wages for workers such as mid-day meal, ASHA and Anganwadi workers, restoration of the ACP scheme and extension of Punjab pay scales to employees recruited after July 17, 2020.
The unions alleged that the government had failed to release the pending 18 per cent DA instalments and arrears despite directions from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and accused the AAP government of failing to fulfil repeated assurances on their demands.
(With inputs from PTI)
