Ministerial staff begin five-day pen-down strike over demands

Amritsar, November 8

Demanding release of the arrears of the dearness allowance, the pay commission report and the implementation of the old pension scheme, employees of government departments started their 5-day pen-down strike here on Wednesday.

The employees held a protest rally at Government Dental College and accused the state government of not fulfilling any of its promises. Employees’ leader Jagdish Thakur said, “The government claims that it has no shortage of money, which is clear from advertisements worth crores of rupees being published in other states. But when it comes to paying the DA arrears (pending since 2016), they start giving the same ruse that they have no money.”

Thakur said the state government must listen to the demands of the government employees and take steps to pacify their anger. The employees’ leaders accused the state of misleading the employees on the issue of the old pension scheme. They said though leaders of the ruling party were trying to take credit for the statements regarding revival of the old pension scheme during elections in other states, the government had still not implemented the decision in this regard.

Announcing to boycott all government services from Wednesday, which would continue till November 13, the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union also announced that they would organise protest rallies at all district headquarters in the state on November 10.

PSMSU leaders Manjinder Singhh Sidhu and Mandeep Singh Chohan said the government employees would show black flags to every Punjab cabinet ministers on their visit to the city during the days of the protest to express their anger.