Defiant SSA/RMSA announces intensification of stir

Tribune News Service

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Jalandhar, March 5

With the state government seeking details of all employees who were to participate in a protest on February 16 from all districts, activists of the SSA/RMSA Union have planned intensification of their stir against the government, terming the action by the DGSE office a bid to pressurise employees of the Education Department.

The SSA/RMSA employees shall hold a protest via a series of hunger strikes starting March 8 at Sector 17 in Chandigarh against the government’s move. The union members were planning stirs in protest against unreleased salaries and lack of regularisation of their services.

Activists said instead of releasing the pending salaries of its employees, the department was rather planning to pressurise employees into withdrawing their protest. The DSGSE office had written to all districts, asking them to send the names of the employees who were to participate in the stir, which was going to take place on February 16. Releasing a press communiqué here today, the SSA/RMSA Office Employees Union district Jalandhar president Gagan Sharma said the government was exploiting employees.

He said the department had failed to provide regular salaries and awards to employees and was now planning to act against its own employees.

He said before elections, the Act made by the government to regularise employees’ services has also been reduced to a piece of paper. He said the regular orders had also not been released to employees so far. Activists of the union also said that while releasing regular orders still remained to be done, on top of it, the department hadn’t paid salaries for the past five months to its employees. Activists said sans money for the past five to six months, employees were debt-ridden and many were forced to take loans from banks. Sharma said to demand the regularisation of services by the employees, a series of hunger strikes had been started from February 13 at Sector17 in Chandigarh. He said despite the release of a letter by the personnel department and the Election Commission, the department was dilly dallying on providing regular orders to employees.

He said against the lackadaisical approach of the government, employees had announced the intensification of protests and on March 8, a 251-member delegation of employees would sit on strike at Sector 17 in Chandigarh. Employees had also threatened a secret action which might be initiated by them any time. Employees said now they would only withdraw their strike when their demands were met. He said during this time if there was any untoward incident, the Chief Secretary and the Punjab Government would be responsible for it.