PCS officers' strike brings work to halt in govt offices

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Phagwara, January 9

Work in most government offices in Phagwara, Phillaur, Nakodar, Shahkot subdivisions, and Nurmahal sub-tehsil remained paralysed on Monday following the revenue officers and the ministerial services unions’ decision to support the strike of Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officers who have proceeded on mass casual leave for five days starting Monday in protest against the ‘illegal’ arrest of a colleague in Ludhiana by the state Vigilance Bureau.

PCS officer Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, who was posted as Regional Transport Authority (RTA) in Ludhiana, was arrested on Friday by the Vigilance Bureau for allegedly taking bribes from transporters for sparing them from challans for offending vehicles, the bureau had said.

The PCS Officers’ Association held a meeting of its general body to discuss Dhaliwal’s arrest.

It was resolved in the meeting that all PCS officers in the state shall proceed on a mass casual leave for the coming week starting January 9, it said.

It said that a memorandum shall be submitted to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in this regard. The association demanded the government constitute a high-powered committee to investigate the ‘illegal’ arrest of Dhaliwal and sought its report by January 13.

The committee should include senior IAS officers of Principal Secretary rank as well as a PCS officer and representatives of the Transport Department, the association demanded.

The resolution said further course of action will depend on a review of the situation on January 14.

The Vigilance Bureau on Friday had said that during the investigation of a complaint lodged through the Chief Minister’s anti-corruption helpline on November 18, it was found that Dhaliwal was indulging in collecting bribes through some private persons from different transporters every month in Ludhiana for not issuing challans of their vehicles.