Patiala: The monthly meeting of PRTC pensioners was held here today under the chairmanship of the state president of the central body Bhagwant Singh Kanganwal, in which a large number of pensioners from various depots participated and raised slogans against the Punjab government and PRTC management for not receiving their dues for a long time.
State president of the association Bhagwant Singh Kanganwal said in his address that we have repeatedly met the management and insisted on payment of dues. Despite assurances from the management, no payment is being made. He warned the management and said that the management should not test our patience. Our elderly pensioners are fighting a battle of life and death while lying on the bed, but the management is not paying any attention.
He asked the pensioners to be ready for any kind of struggle in the coming times. Addressing this crowded meeting organized in the form of a rally, General Secretary Hari Singh said that despite repeatedly promising to pay our dues such as revised gratuity, medical bills of 2016 grade in the meeting, the management has not made any payment.
He said that some of our pensioners are fighting a battle of life and death while lying on the bed. There are one or two cases where the ailing wives of pensioners are on the verge of death and they repeatedly shake them at night to see if they are alive or not, the pensioners are very worried about their treatment, their bills worth lakhs of rupees are lying in the institution but are not being paid.
He said that waiving the fare of women who earn a lot of money is a government bribe for votes which is given by cutting our stomach. He said that the income of the institution should be increased by stopping the free travel facility and our dues should be paid, so that the elderly patients fighting the battle of life can get happiness.
It is also important to mention here that the medical bills have not been paid for the last 8 months. It was also found that the liability of PRTC for the previous and ensuing year is Rs. 810 crores. However, Punjab Government has kept only Rs. 225/- crores in its budget for the institution. The pensioners present also raised slogans against the excesses of the management and Punjab Government.
Apart from the above, the meeting was also addressed by S/o Bachan Singh Arora General Secretary Central Body, Bachittar Singh Ludhiana Depot, Upkar Singh Sangrur, Kala Ram Kotkapura, Jaswant Sharma Faridkot, Gurmeet Singh Kapurthala, Pritam Singh Brar Bathinda, Raghvir Singh Khadiala Budhlada, Madan Mohan Barnala, Shiv Kumar Sharma Patiala, Harbhajan Singh Chandigarh.
S/o Bakshish Singh, Amolak Singh, Balwant Singh, Bir Singh, Nirpal Singh, Ram Dita, Gurcharan Singh, Jarnail Singh Inspector, Ranjit Singh Jio, Sant Ram, Tejpal and Sham Sundar also contributed a lot in making the meeting successful. Bachan Singh Arora performed the responsibility of the stage brilliantly.