Punjabi University staff polish shoes to protest against non-payment of 2 months’ salary

Ravneet Singh

Patiala, February 3

Awaiting their salaries of the past two months, Punjabi University’s non-teaching employees today resorted to protest by polishing shoes outside the office of Vice-Chancellor Professor Arvind.

More than a dozen non-teaching employees resorted to this unique form of protest in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, one of the University employees has already been sitting on hunger strike for the past five days. The non-teaching workforce has already been holding symbolic protests outside the VC office for the past 18 days.

Manoj Bhambri, one of the staff members, said, “The University has failed to disburse our salaries and pensions of the past two months-December 2022 and January 2023. This has led to major inconvenience for many, as employees are paid meagre salaries. One of the employees has already been holding a hunger strike for the past five days. But the authorities even failed to get his medical check-up done.”

Importantly, the employees have resorted to the protest only days after the University Vice-Chancellor met Revenue minister Harpal Singh Cheema and sought grants for the cash-strapped university.

Employees said the government’s decision to implement new pay scales has further burdened the university by about Rs 100 crore a year. In case the state government fails to provide grants, the university’s already empty coffers will be excessively burdened for the upcoming fiscal year.