SSA/RMSA employees to rekindle protest path

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 21

Members of the SSA/RMSA Office Employees Union Punjab today announced that they would rekindle their protest against the state government.

The members said they would stage a series of protests at district levels in the state till February 25 and would burn effigies of the government.

They added that as part of their series, they would stage a demonstration in Bathinda on February 23.

Flaying the state government for not delivering its promise regarding regularisation of the services of contractual employees, the members alleged that the SAD-BJP combine passed the proposal regarding regularisation in the Cabinet to lure the voters ahead of the elections but it didn’t keep its promise on one pretext or the other.

Deepak Bansal, president of the union, stated, “On the one hand, leaders of the ruling alliance promised the voters that if they form the government, several employment opportunities would be generated while on the other, the state government is playing with the future of government employees, who have been working in various government departments on a contractual basis for the past more than 10 years.”

The union also accused the state government of suppressing the voice of rebellion by ordering the police to canecharge the protesters and registering false cases against them.

The members said it takes these steps to make sure that the employees remain busy with court cases and aren’t left with time to raise their voice for their future.

They also accused the state government of pocketing funds released by the Central government under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The members also accused the government of not giving salaries and allowances on time to the employees working under these schemes.

The members of the union said they would be left with no option but to observe pen-down strikes if the next government fails to implement the proposal regarding regularisation of the services of the contractual employees.