Congress cautions Punjab CM against taking action against over striking employees

Chandigarh, Aug 29 (AHN) With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab contemplating to take action against more than three lakh government employees who went on a mass casual leave over their demands, mainly the release of dearness allowance, State Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Saturday cautioned Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann against taking any action against them.

He warned Mann that this might well prove to be his last day as the Chief Minister.

In a related development, the employees' Sanjha Mulazam Manch has approached Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, seeking action against the Chief Minister for failing to attend a proposed meeting with them on the day of strike on August 27.

They demanded that one day's salary of the Chief Minister Mann be deducted for his absence.

Warring told the media here that the protest was a democratic right of the employees as long as they were doing it lawfully.

"You cannot intimidate and bully them using the threats of action," he said, while challenging the Chief Minister to try his authority of acting against the employees.

"It will have far-reaching consequences for the Chief Minister (Bhagwant Mann) which he must never have imagined," he asserted.

Meanwhile, in a representation to the Governor the employees' front blamed Chief Minister Mann for "negligence towards official responsibilities, administrative arbitrariness and wasteful expenditure of public funds".

The employees' union said "if rules and discipline apply to employees at the lower levels, those occupying the highest positions in the government cannot be exempt from them".

The government services across Punjab were impacted on August 27, with more than three lakh employees of almost all departments, boards and corporations went on strike.

They were joined by nearly four lakh pensioners.

The impact of the "Maha Hartal" was also seen in government hospitals, dispensaries and educational institutes.

However, markets, private establishments, plying of private and public transport buses and emergency services were exempted from the shutdown.

According to employee unions, their dearness allowance of Rs 20,161 crore has been pending. Of this, Rs 6,000 crore has been pending since 2021, while another Rs 14,161 crore is pending before 2021, the year the AAP government came to power in Punjab.

Employees are getting dearness allowance at 42 per cent of basic pay, while they claim it should be 58 per cent.

Earlier this month, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the state government to clear the pending dearness allowance arrears within 15 days.

It also restrained the state from undertaking a large-scale advertisement campaign until the dues are paid.

"Till all such dues are cleared, the state of Punjab shall not resort to any unproductive expenditures such as large-scale advertising campaigns in print or social media as these expenses cannot justify the denial of dues admissible to state employees," the High Court had said on August 3.