Employees' strike 'illegal', says Punjab minister Arora ahead of call for mass casual leave

Employees' strike 'illegal', says Punjab minister Arora ahead of call for mass casual leave

Chandigarh, The Punjab government said on Monday evening that the proposed employees' strike on Tuesday is "illegal" and warned of action if the public faced inconvenience.

The statement of Industry Minister Aman Arora came ahead of the government employees' call to proceed on mass casual leave on Tuesday.

The Punjab Sanja Mulazam Manch last month had given the state government time till September 7 to withdraw a recent notice issued to the protesting employees, otherwise the employees would proceed on mass leave on September 8.

The Punjab government directed the officers concerned to issue show cause notices to those employees who remained "unauthorised absent" on August 27.

In a statement on Monday, Minister Arora said the proposed employee strike is illegal because the matter related to the dearness allowance is already sub-judice before the Supreme Court.

He asserted that the Punjab government has already addressed the demand of around 85,000 employees by deciding to raise their DA from 42 to 60 per cent and has offered salary parity with comparable central government employees for others.

The minister appealed to the employees not to become "political tools" and said that while the Bhagwant Mann government stands firmly with its employees and remains committed to resolving their genuine concerns through dialogue, it also has an equal responsibility towards the three crore Punjabis and cannot allow disruption of essential public services.

He affirmed that any inconvenience caused to the public would compel the government to take requisite action in accordance with law.

He appealed to employee organisations to continue engaging with the government and not allow "political interests" to come in the way of a constructive resolution.

He reiterated that the government remains committed to finding a balanced and fair solution. "Punjab's employees and the people of Punjab are not two sides. Both are integral to the progress of our state.

"We appeal to employees to raise their concerns through the appropriate channels and not resort to an illegal strike, while ensuring that employee interests are protected without compromising Punjab's financial stability and the rights of the people to uninterrupted public services," Arora said.

He further said the government has already addressed the DA demand of around 85,000 employees recruited after July 17, 2020 by deciding to increase their DA from 42 to 60 per cent. The decision covers employees recruited under the post-2020 regime, whose pay is based on the central government's 7th Pay Commission pattern.

However, it will not benefit employees recruited before July 17, 2020.

The broader issue of DA and arrears is also before the Supreme Court and the state government will abide by the decision of the apex court, said Arora.

Over three lakh government employees, who went on a statewide strike on August 27, pressing the state government to accept their various demands, including the release of their pending 18 per cent DA.

The Punjab government had moved the Supreme Court challenging a high court order directing it to release all pending dearness allowance and dearness relief dues to state employees and pensioners within a fortnight, contending that the direction to pay arrears totalling around ₹14,191 crore in such a short period was constitutionally impossible.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.