The employees and pensioners of Punjab Mulazam and Pensioner Sanjha Front and the Sanjha Mulazam Manch organised a protest near the Sector 39 Mandi ground on Friday. They entered Chandigarh from Mohali and were stopped near Sector 39 by the police barricades.
Police barricading had been placed around 9.00 am while the protesters started entering around 10.00 am. They were stopped by the police as they tried to protest outside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and were charged with water cannons in order to control the crowd. No FIR was filed by the police.
Due to the protest, the road from Max Hospital to Ziri Mandi Chowk, the road from Mohali to Sector39/40-55/56 Chowk and the road from the Sector 39 police station light point to Maloya were closed. This led to traffic chaos throughout the day for commuters. However, since it was limited to one part of the city, the rest of the city had smooth traffic movement.
The protesters on Thursday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of reneging on its promises to employees and pensioners, alleging that its outsourcing policy towards them lacked clarity and commitment.
Among their key demands is the release of the 18% pending dearness allowance (DA), an issue already before the courts, restoration of Old Pension Scheme and regularisation of contractual employees, along with other long-pending service-related benefits.
{{/usCountry}}Among their key demands is the release of the 18% pending dearness allowance (DA), an issue already before the courts, restoration of Old Pension Scheme and regularisation of contractual employees, along with other long-pending service-related benefits.
{{/usCountry}}The unions said the state government’s failure to fulfil assurances on key demands compelled them to organise Friday’s protest to highlight what they termed the government’s ‘anti-employee’ stance.
Describing the protest as more than a demonstration, the employee bodies said the rally represented a collective struggle to safeguard the rights, dignity and future of government employees, pensioners and their families.
In a notable shift from previous agitations, employees are participating in the protest with their spouses and children, while pensioners and their family members have also joined the mobilisation, signalling broader public support for the movement, according to union leaders.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on August 3 also directed Punjab government to release all up-to-date pending instalments of dearness allowance (DA) to all its employees and pensioners at the rates paid to the members of the All India Services (IAS/IPS/IFS) officers serving in the state on the Central government pattern, within a fortnight.
The high court bench of acting chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor also ordered that till all such dues are cleared, the government would not ‘resort to any unproductive expenditures’, such as large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media, as these expenses cannot justify the denial of dues admissible to state employees.
According to a government spokesperson, a meeting between representatives of protesting employees and CM Bhagwant Mann has been scheduled for August 27. He said the government stands firmly with its employees and has always worked for their welfare. “In the past as well, the demands of various employee unions have been addressed constructively through dialogue, and the government remains committed to resolving issues through discussions,” he added.
In default, the unpaid amounts would carry 6% interest per annum. The chief secretary has been asked to ensure scrupulous compliance and file an affidavit about it by August 31. The arrears bill is estimated to cost around ₹14,000 crore.