Patiala, October 22 (Manpreet Singh):- On the second day of the protests being held on October 21 and 22 by taking mass casual leave, thousands of employees and pensioners from across the district staged a massive sit-in near the Verka booth outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Patiala and took out a protest march up to the Main Lights Chowk. The protests have been organised by the joint coordination committee of the Punjab Employees and Pensioners Joint Front and Mulazam Manch Punjab in support of their demands and against the Punjab Government’s failure to honour its promises.
Addressing the gathering, coordination committee leaders Dhanwant Singh Bhathal, Sukhwinder Singh Saini, Khushwinder Singh Kapila, Jaswinder Singh Soja, Gurmel Singh Virk, Jasvir Singh Khokhar, Hari Singh Tohrha, Gurdeep Singh Walia and Master Paramjit Singh, among others, said that despite strict orders from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the government had failed to release instalments of Dearness Allowance (DA) and arrears. They said the government had also failed to apply the 2.59 multiplication factor to pensioners and employees in unrevised categories, restore the Old Pension Scheme and regularise various categories of temporary and outsourced employees. Other pending demands included restoration of the ACP scheme, implementation of Punjab pay scales for employees recruited after July 17, 2020, payment of full salaries during the probation period, integration of computer teachers into the Education Department, and cancellation of the May 16, 2023 policy to ensure the application of Civil Services Rules and Punjab pay scales to special-cadre teachers and other employees. The leaders said the continued neglect of these and other demands showed that the Punjab Government had completely abandoned employees, pensioners and honorarium-based workers.
Coordination committee leaders Sant Ram Cheema, Nahar Singh, Gurpreet Panesar, Ravinder Sharma, Darshan Singh, Raghbir Singh, Rajpal Singh Lasoi and Prem Kumar Panjola, among others, said that by implementing only 8% Dearness Allowance, the Punjab Government was trying to create a narrative that all the issues of employees, pensioners and honorarium-based workers had been resolved. They asserted that the struggle would continue until all the demands of the coordination committee were fulfilled.
On the occasion, Rajbir Singh, Mohan Singh Samana, Krishan Dev, Ram Chand Dhamomajra, Amit Kumar, Lakhbir Singh, Bhupinder Kumar Kakkar and Satpal Khanpur, among others, also addressed the gathering. Darshan Belumajra and other representatives of the Democratic Farmers’ Association extended strong support to the protest.
