Punjab-UT Employees and Pensions Joint Front carried out a protest march in Patiala on July 30 against the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, which they termed as ‘anti-employee’
Police had to be deployed to control them when they gathered around the residence of the chief minister, causing traffic jams and road blocks.
The protestors were raising their voice against the ambiguous recommendations and displeased with the state government for not giving it enough thought before implementing them.
According to the protestors, the state government’s claims were false with regard to the attractive hikes and allowances for the staff and pensioners. They were unhappy that instead of raising the remunerations, the government was actually imposing pay cuts via the pay commission.
The protesters also demanded regularisation of contractual employees, reimplementation of old pension scheme and release of pending arrears of dearness allowance.
They were also demanding that the state government stop rationalisation of posts in various departments and implement the state pay scales instead of central scales. Additionally, they also want the probation period to be cut short for new recruits.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, the BJP’s Delhi unit plans to hold a protest against the Kejriwal government for failing to release Rs 13,000 crore to the municipal corporations, for paying salaries of the employees. The arrears have been due for long, but the BJP alleges that the amount is purposely being withheld to show the BJP in a bad light. The issue of the dearth of funds in the MCD coffers has been a very old one, which has led to delayed salaries or no salaries for many.
