Ludhiana:PAUTA protest delay in salary revision

Members of PAUTA, along with GADVASU Teachers’ Association held the protest at the flag post against the undue delay on the part of the state government regarding notification of new pay scales

Ludhiana Punjab Agricultural University Teachers’ Association (PAUTA) staged a protest at PAU campus on Wednesday against the state government for the non-implementation of the 7th pay commission. The protest will continue for the next two days.

PAUTA members protesting against the state government in Ludhiana on Wednesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Members of PAUTA, along with GADVASU Teachers’ Association held the protest at the flag post against the undue delay on the part of the state government regarding notification of new pay scales. The dharna was also supported by the retired teachers of PAU and GADVASU.

The protest was organised in the wake of agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal’s visit to the PAU campus to inspect the preparations of the upcoming “Sarkar-Kisan Milni’ event, which is scheduled to take place on February 12.

During the protest, PAUTA president H S Kingra and secretary Mandeep Singh Gill questioned the intent of the government in creating unnecessary hurdles in process of issuing notification for PAU teachers and appealed to the them to implement the pay scales for PAU and GADVASU teachers at the earliest.

The teachers association warned the government to fulfill its demands otherwise they will be compelled to protest against the government on the day of Sarkar-Kisan Milni.

Later on, PAUTA President and secretary met minister for agriculture & farmer’s welfare, and apprised him of the situation and further requested to intervene in the matter to get the scales notified for PAU and GADVASU teachers.

According to the teacher’s association over 800 teaching faculty of PAU and nearly 250 of Guru Anand Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) have been denied benefits of the 7th pay commission.

The government has already notified the implementation of 7th UGC pay scales for traditional universities and college teachers of the state in September 2022 through the department of higher education. Similar notifications for PAU and GADVASU are done by the department of agriculture & farmers welfare and animal husbandry, respectively generally within a month of the higher education department notification. However, almost five months have lapsed and therefore, teachers of these universities continues to protest to express their resentment.