Employees, pensioners hold protest over pension, job security demands

A protest led by Gurdeep Singh Bajwa and Ashwini Awasthi, conveners of the Punjab Employees and Pensioners Joint Front, took place following a call for action from the organisation. The demonstration culminated in a memorandum being handed over to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann through Amritsar (south) MLA Dr Ajay Gupta.

Advertisement

The memorandum addresses long-standing demands, including a 2.59 times increase in pension, as recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission, the reinstatement of the old pension scheme for all government and semi-government employees, as well as employees in boards, corporations, local bodies and the regularisation of contract-based, outsourced and enlisted workers.

Additionally, the letter highlighted demands for equal pay for equal work for mid-day meal workers, Anganwadi, ASHA workers and facilitators. It also called for the payment of a minimum monthly salary of Rs 18,000, in line with the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations.

In response, Dr Ajay Gupta spoke with the Chief Minister as well as Finance Minister regarding these problems, assuring the protesting employees a solution would be reached in the near future.

Protest leaders emphasised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had failed to resolve people’s problems in Delhi, leading to their defeat and urged the party to address these concerns in Punjab to regain public trust.