Punjab CM appeals to striking Govt employees to call off strike to prevent public inconvenience

Chandigarh: Assuring of all efforts to resolve their grievances in consultation with the concerned departments, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday appealed to the striking state government employees to call off their strike to prevent any further inconvenience to the general public. 

Chairing a high-level meeting to review the demands of the striking employees, the Chief Minister expressed concern over their continued agitation, which has severely impacted the functioning of various State Government departments.

Disclosing this, an official spokesman said the State Government had constituted a Committee of Officers to look into the demands of the agitating employees. The Committee had examined, in detail, the demands of various Employees Associations and had submitted its report. It found that certain demands raised by the employees were linked to the decisions of the Government prior to the year 2006 and were in no way connected with the report of the 6th Punjab Pay Commission. As such, these demands shall be considered separately, based on the recommendations of the concerned Administrative Departments, it was decided.

The meeting further decided that certain demands linked with inta/inter departmental issues shall be addressed in consultation with the Departments of Personnel and Finance.
          It may be noted that some days back, acceding to a long-pending demand of the employees, the Punjab Government had decided to implement the recommendations of the 6th Punjab Pay Commission within a month of receipt of the report of the Commission. The implementation of the Pay Commission recommendations, with effect from 1st July 2021, has resulted in a financial outflow of Rs. 4692 crore to approximately 2.8 5 lakh employees and 3.07 lakh pensioners every year. On an average, it works out to Rs. 79,250 per annum, over and above what they are getting at present. In addition, the Government employees and pensioners shall be getting arrears of Rs. 14,759 crore, which works out to an average of Rs. 2.32 lakh per employee/pensioner, the spokesperson pointed out.

The meeting was attended by Local Government Minister Brahm Mohindra, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Suresh Kumar, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Tejveer Singh and other senior officials of the Departments of Finance and Personnel.