Salaries of nearly two lakh employees working under the state government have been delayed due to a strike of the ministerial staff.
Members of the Punjab State Ministerial Service Union (PSMSU) have been on a pen down strike since November 8 to seek implementation of the old pension scheme (OPS), release of three pending dearness allowance (DA), and regularisation of contractual employees. The strike was extended till December 6.
The employees of around 50 departments, including of the treasury department, are on strike. PSMSU’s Amritsar general secretary Jagdish Thakur said, “All departments send pay bills of their employees to the treasury department. Due to the strike, no pay bill has been submitted in the department. Before the end of the strike, it is not possible for the employees to get their salaries.”
Amritsar police commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar has issued a letter to the police officers of the commissionerate expressing apprehension regarding the delay in salaries. “There is a possibility that the treasury department may not pass the pay bills due to the strike of ministerial staff till December 6. We request all officers and other employees to maintain their bank accounts to avoid any delay in payment of their loans,” the letter reads.
District authorities said judicial officials also flagged a delay in the release of November salary. District officials in the southwest region said the strike has resulted in public inconvenience as routine work has been hit for the past 25 days and now government employees are facing the heat of the strike.
A worker at the Bathinda district administrative complex (DAC) said the strike has hit them too. “I have to pay a monthly installment of ₹23,000 to repay a house loan but the delay in salary has increased my worries,” he added.
Deputy commissioners of various districts said they are approaching the protesting employees to work on urgent files related to court works.
Fazilka deputy commissioner Senu Duggal said her office is reaching out to the protesting employees in important cases related to the public.
Bathinda deputy commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray said the work to disburse salaries begins in the last week of every month and salaries are disbursed by the first of every month. “Majority of this work is done by the ministerial staff and thus the salaries have not been disbursed,” he said.
President of the Bathinda District Ministerial Services Union Kuldeep Sharma admitted the hardships faced by the government employees and hoped that the state authorities would soon agree to implement the demands.
“We know that employees have to pay their various loan bills, house rents etc. and a delay in salary disbursement is worrying them. But we are also fighting for new joinees in different government departments who are being paid a monthly salary of ₹15,000-20,000. Implementation of the OPS was a pre-poll promise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but now it is backing out on it. If the state government does not agree to implement the demands in a meeting scheduled on December 6, we will be forced to scale up the agitation,” said Sharma.
Meeting with finance minister on Dec 6
Tejinder Singh Nangal, state president of the DC Office Employee’s Union, stated that the salaries would get delayed as all ministerial staff is on strike till December 6. He added that the finance minister has invited the union members for a meeting on December 5. After the meeting with the finance minister, the union would decide its line of action on December 6, he said.
Lakhvir Grewal, Ludhiana district treasury officer, said due to the strike, the salary of all government employees has been delayed. The salaries would be released after the ministerial staff ends the strike and resumes work.
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