Patiala, October 14:- Under the banner of the Class Four Government Employees Union Punjab (1680), temporary and permanent fourth-class employees of government colleges held a gate rally outside Government Physical College, Patiala, to protest against the principal. They alleged that the principal had dismissed a long-serving fourth-class employee, Shalinder, without issuing any notice or giving him an opportunity to be heard. The union said that repeated requests and written representations had also been ignored. It may be noted that the college comes under Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Sports University.
Addressing the rally, union leaders Darshan Singh Lubana, Ram Lal Rama, Ram Jodha, Buddh Ram, Prakash Singh Lubana, Inderpal Walia, Lakhvir Singh and Satnam Singh Baghbani described the principal’s decision as authoritarian.
The leaders said that no concrete steps were being taken by higher education authorities to regularise temporary fourth-class employees who had been working for long periods in the 64 government colleges across Punjab.
They further said that decisions taken on employees’ demands during meetings with the Director of the Department of Higher Education, Colleges, Punjab, on July 7, 2026, had not been implemented. These included the implementation of minimum wages and the payment of outstanding wage arrears, which the college principal was allegedly withholding deliberately. The union said it would plan further agitation if the demands remained unaddressed.
Other leaders present at the gate rally included Tarlochan Maru, Sunil Dutt, Ram Naresh and Bidhi Chand Nabha, among others.
DSP (City) Sanjeev Singh held discussions during the rally and arranged a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor.
