Outsourced fire services employees begin five-day strike in several parts of Punjab

The outsourced employees of the fire services today went on a five-day strike in several parts of the state. With the festival season and paddy harvesting season underway, the staff shortage is expected to severely affect services, locals said.

Sukhditta Singh, an outsourced employee from Gidderbaha, said, “An outsourced employee gets just Rs 10,500 per month. We are unable to meet our expenses with this meagre amount. We have appealed to the state government several times to regularise our services. The AAP government had even promised that temporary employees would be regularised. The Haryana government is paying double the salary to its outsourced employees. We are observing the strike till October 5. If the state government doesn’t agree to a meeting, we will launch a massive protest in Jalandhar on Diwali.”

He further informed that there are a total of 17 employees in the Fire Department in Gidderbaha, of which 11 are outsourced. In Muktsar district, the outsourced employees in Malout and Gidderbaha are on strike, but not in Muktsar.

Sukhditta added that there are nearly 700 outsourced employees across the state.