Punjab government services disrupted as three lakh employees join mass strike

Government services across Punjab were disrupted on Thursday after more than three lakh employees from various departments, boards and corporations went on mass casual leave over unpaid dearness allowance arrears and other long-standing demands.

Nearly four lakh pensioners joined the employees in staging day-long demonstrations outside government offices at the district, tehsil and block levels as part of the “Maha Hartal”.

The strike affected government hospitals, dispensaries and educational institutions. Emergency services were excluded from the shutdown, while markets, private establishments and public and private bus operations continued to function.

Employee unions claimed that DA arrears amounting to Rs 20,161 crore remained unpaid. Of this, they said Rs 6,000 crore had accumulated since 2021, while another Rs 14,161 crore related to the preceding period.

The employees are currently receiving DA equivalent to 42 per cent of their basic pay but maintain that the applicable rate should be 58 per cent.

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann was scheduled to meet employee union leaders at the Punjab Armed Police complex in Jalandhar later in the day in an effort to resolve the dispute.

A day before the strike, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema held several meetings with employee associations in Chandigarh. Cheema heads the Cabinet subcommittee constituted to address issues concerning government employees.

He assured union representatives that the state government was sympathetic to their concerns and that action on several major demands was already under way.

Cheema also directed the Transport, Education, Animal Husbandry and Finance departments to examine the employees’ legitimate demands and expedite the measures required to resolve them.

Earlier this month, the minister said the government had inherited liabilities of Rs 14,191 crore arising from pay commission arrears. According to him, more than Rs 6,000 crore had already been cleared under a liquidation plan approved by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Cheema said the pay commission report had been prepared in 2016 during the tenure of the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government but was implemented only in July 2021. The delay resulted in DA arrears for the period between 1 January 2016, and July 2021 being frozen, creating a substantial financial liability, he added.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on 3 August directed the state government to clear the outstanding DA arrears within 15 days. It also restrained the government from undertaking large-scale advertising campaigns until the employees’ dues were paid.

The court observed that the state could not justify withholding admissible payments to employees while spending heavily on advertisements in print and social media.

With IANS inputs