Patiala, September 11:- The monthly meeting of the Pensioners Welfare Federation Punjab Pahalwan was held today at the organization’s headquarters, P-3, 66 KV Grid Colony, Patiala, under the chairmanship of Patiala Circle President and Punjab Office Secretary Shivdev Singh. Workers from various divisional offices of Patiala Circle participated in the meeting.
While sharing information about the meeting with the press, Punjab State General Secretary B.S. Sekhon said that the meeting discussed the long-pending issues of employees and alleged that instead of resolving the employees’ issues, the Punjab Government was complicating them.
On August 3, 2026, the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court, while delivering a major decision in favour of the employees, had directed the Punjab Government to pay 18 per cent dearness allowance to the employees within 15 days. If the payment was not made within 15 days, the Punjab Government would also have to pay 6# interest on the amount due.
However, the Punjab Government filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which was alleged to be an attempt to harass the employees and disregard the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Employees and pensioners across Punjab are holding large-scale sit-ins, demonstrations and protest rallies against what they described as anti-employee decisions of the Punjab Government. Employees and pensioners of the Punjab Secretariat and Directorates had also been continuously observing a pen-down strike to register their protest.
The Punjab Government transferred the main leader of the employees observing the peaceful pen-down strike, Sukhchain Singh Khehra, along with other senior leaders, outside the Secretariat. Show-cause notices were also issued to employees participating in the strike, and the employees were threatened with further strict action according to law.
However, employees and pensioners from Punjab and various departments did not pay heed to the threats of the Punjab Government and continued their protest.
The employees and pensioners resolved to oppose the Aam Aadmi Party in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections to be held in 2027. They alleged that the present Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab had started committing greater atrocities against the people of Punjab than Ahmad Shah Abdali. They alleged that whenever farmers, labourers, employees, pensioners, Anganwadi workers and traders hold peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations for their rights, they are subjected to tear gas shells, water cannons and lathi-charge.
They further alleged that there was no law and order in Punjab. Daylight robberies, snatchings and murders were taking place, and the situation in Punjab had become worse than in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The people of Punjab, they said, were feeling unsafe.
The meeting appealed to the Punjab Government to hold a meeting and resolve the legitimate issues of employees and pensioners. It was stated that if the legitimate demands of employees and pensioners were not resolved in time, the results in the coming period would be much worse than those of the 2022 elections, for which the Aam Aadmi Party would have to face the consequences.
Those present at the meeting included President Shivdev Singh, State Vice President Balwinder Singh Pasiana, State General Secretary B.S. Sekho, Circle Secretary Brij Mohan Chopra, Jagdish Singh, Baljinder Singh, Berjinder Singh J.E., Pappi, former Punjab Cashier Surinder Kumar Sharma, Surjit Singh, Surinder Singh J.E., Sumanpreet Singh S.D.O., Mandal President Harbans Singh, Gurcharan Singh Baba, Bedi Sahib, Gurbhajan Singh and others.