Employees Organisations Hold Protest Rally Against Government

Mohali, September 10:- On the call of the Joint Coordination Struggle Committee, being run by the Punjab Employees and Pensioners Joint Front and the Sanjha Mulazim Manch Punjab, a massive protest rally was held by the employees on September 8 at the headquarters of the Rural Development and Panchayats Department in Mohali against the anti-employee decisions of the Punjab Government.
Addressing the gathering, the speakers said that before coming to power, the present government had made promises to various sections of society as well as guarantees to the employees. Prominently, the government had guaranteed to increase the honorarium of honorarium-based workers in Punjab, including Mid-Day Meal workers, ASHA workers and Anganwadi workers, on the Haryana pattern, but this guarantee has not been fulfilled till date.
Besides, workers working on a temporary basis in various departments for a long time have not been regularised. Guarantees had also been made regarding implementation of the Old Pension Scheme, application of a 2.59 multiplication factor for pensioners, cancellation of the letter regarding implementation of Central pay scales, cancellation of the three-year probation period and several other demands.
However, after coming to power, the government started using force against employees demanding their rights. Whether they were Line Men of the Electricity Board, MGNREGA workers, sanitation workers in Barnala, or the Old Pension Restoration Morcha at Satauj, the Chief Minister’s village, water cannons and lathi-charge were used against them.
The organisations of Punjab Government employees had already sounded the bugle of the struggle by holding an unprecedented rally in Chandigarh on August 7. The government has also refused to implement the Hon’ble High Court’s decision in the case related to Dearness Allowance. Now the struggle has entered a decisive phase.
The government is allegedly spreading false propaganda about giving higher salaries to Punjab employees. Employee leaders Sukhchain Singh Khehra and Sushil Kumar Fauji have been transferred with a sense of revenge, due to which resentment has intensified among the employees.
The battle of truth against falsehood will be fought against the government from village to village, street to street and locality to locality. President Jasvir Singh Tohra, Manpreet Kaur, Gaurav Dhiman, Navtej Singh, Front leaders Harnek Singh Mavi, Gurpreet Singh Bath and Gurbinder Singh Chandigarh also addressed the rally.