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Ludhiana | Teachers’ union to march to Punjab Vidhan Sabha on June 28
Ludhiana district committee of Old Pension Achievement Morcha warned the state government of staging a protest march towards Punjab Vidhan Sabha on June 28 over implementation of the old pension scheme for teachers
Seeking immediate implementation of the old pension scheme, the Ludhiana district committee of Old Pension Achievement Morcha on Thursday warned the state government of staging a protest march towards Punjab Vidhan Sabha on June 28.
The implementation of the old pension scheme was one of the key promise made by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during the Punjab assembly elections, held earlier this year.
In a press statement issued by Gurjant Singh Kokri Kalan, state convener of Punjab, and co-convener Randeep Singh, Fatehgarh Sahib, the date of the protest was announced.
Tehal Singh Sarabha, one of the union leaders, said no minister or leader of the ruling state government here had ever talked about the said promise and thus, it’s high time to make them listen to the aggrieved voices of government employees.
The leaders said that after January 2004, crores have been collected through the contributory pension scheme with contribution from employees and government at the rate of 10 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively and handed over to the corporate houses.
DTF seeks welfare schemes for teachers, hands overs memo to DC
Before the budget session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha to be held from June 24, the United Teachers’ Front of various democratic and progressive teachers’ organisations have raised flags to voice the financial issues of educational institutions and teachers across Punjab.
In this context, a delegation, led by Ludhiana unit of Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) Punjab, met deputy commissioner (DC) Surabhi Malik on Thursday and handed over a memorandum, addressing the finance minister of Punjab, to her.
Ludhiana DTF vice-president Davinder Sidhu, general secretary Daljit Samrala, finance secretary Manjinder Cheema and press secretary Gurpreet Singh, while issuing press statements, said the delegation had requested the state government to resolve the problems being faced by the educational institutions and teachers.
The delegation sought merger of computer teachers in the education department without any conditions, including full pay and allowances, giving the benefit of 6th pay commission.
The memorandum included other demands, including restoration of the old pension scheme for employees recruited after 2004. immediate release of the arrears of all the employees, an increase in dearness allowance, etc.
Sidhu said the report of the sixth pay commission should be revised and re-implemented.
The union leaders further demanded that the scale of central pattern applied to 180 ETT (Elementary Teacher Training) teachers, 3,582 master cadres and 873 department of physical education (DPE) teachers should be withdrawn.
“As per the notification dated July 17, 2020, the scales of Punjab state should be restored by cancelling the central pattern pay scale implemented on the new recruits,” Sidhu added.
Apart from this, the organisation demanded that all the temporary teachers and employees working in the education department should be regularised without any conditions, including full pay and allowances.
