Punjab govt. employees call off their strike after assurance

The employees, who had on Tuesday, September 8, observed a day-long strike, were demanding that the government withdraw its letter branding their August 27 mass casual leave taken in protest as “unauthorised leave”.

Updated - September 10, 2026 03:28 am IST - CHANDIGARH

Punjab government employees and pensioners raise slogans during a statewide strike to demand pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears and other government benefits outside the Deputy Commissioner's office, in Amritsar. File | Photo Credit: ANI

Punjab government employees, primarily ministerial staff, withdrew their pen-down strike on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) following an assurance from the Chief Secretary that disciplinary show-cause notices against them would be revoked.

The employees, who had on Tuesday observed a day-long strike, were demanding that the government withdraw its letter branding their August 27 mass casual leave taken in protest as “unauthorised leave”.

The employees were on strike on the call given by Sanjha Mulazam Manch, Punjab, an organisation representing employees of Directorates in Chandigarh and Mohali, as well as all government offices across the State. They had declared that if their demand was not accepted, they will continue the strike till September 11. The State government had even decided to implement ‘no work, no pay’ in a bid to clamp down on the protest.

On Wednesday, a meeting was held between representatives of the manch and Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha here.

“We were assured that the notices will be withdrawn, and ‘no work, no pay’ would also not be implemented,” manch leader Sushil Kumar Fauji told The Hindu.

The stand-off between the employees and the government started on August 27, when over three lakh government employees launched a Statewide strike over their demands, which include restoring the Old Pension Scheme, release of pending 18% dearness allowance and regularisation of contractual employees, among others. A meeting between Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and employees’ organisation representatives was called off after Mr. Mann insisted talks could only happen once the strike was withdrawn.

“We have also been assured that a meeting with the Chief Minister will be fixed over our other demands soon,” said Mr. Kumar.

Published - September 10, 2026 03:27 am IST

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