Teachers protest, block road in Jalandhar West

Jalandhar, June 25

The 3,704 Teachers’ Union, Punjab, held a protest rally over their demands in the Jalandhar West constituency here today. They also blocked the Ravidas Chowk here.

Harjinder Singh, state president of the union, said the Congress government had implemented incomplete Central pay scales for employees recruited after July 17, 2020. As a result, salaries of newly recruited employees had decreased by almost 40 per cent as compared to old employees.

“Before coming to power, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised that if its government comes to power, they would restore the pay scale of Punjab Government employees. However, after coming to power, the AAP did not resolve the issue despite holding several meetings,” he said.

He said in protest against the government, they had run a ‘no Punjab pay-scale, no vote’ campaign during the Lok Sabha elections as well. “The campaign got a lot of response and the AAP was reduced to mere three seats. So, we held a rally today in Jalandhar West in view of the upcoming bypoll,” the state president of the union said.

Addressing the rally, Digvijay Pal Sharma, state president of the Democratic Teachers’ Front, said the Punjab Government was taking decisions against employees and people. He said the Centre and Punjab Government were continuously depriving poor children of their right to education by commercialising education.

“Portal for transfer of teachers should also be opened as soon as possible so that the teachers, who are working far away, can come closer to their homes by getting transferred,” he said.

The leaders announced that they would continue their struggle until their demands were met.