Pb govt employees hold pen-down strike over unpaid salaries

Employees of a few departments of the Punjab government on Monday observed a pen-down strike in protest against unpaid salaries for the month of November. The employees of technical education and industrial training, irrigation, industry and education departments also held a protest rally here over the issue.

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal had earlier said the salaries to the state government employees would be paid on time. "We observed a pen-down strike today and we will again hold our protest in the same way on Tuesday as well," said Punjab Civil Secretariat Association president Sukhchain Khaira.

The employees were holding the protest under the banner of the Punjab Civil Secretariat Association. Shavinder Kaur Walia, an employee of technical education and industrial training, said they have not received salaries of November till date.

"Today is December 9 and we are yet to receive our salaries," she said, warning that they would intensify their protest if they were not paid salaries. Badal had earlier blamed the central government for the delay in the release of Rs 4,100 crore of the Goods and Services Tax compensation to the state.

A delegation of the finance ministers of Punjab, West Bengal, Kerala and Delhi had met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week and had sought the release of their dues. Opposition parties -- the SAD and the BJP -- attacked the Congress-led government over the non-payment of employees' dues.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) demanded all benefits to state ministers, advisors and chairpersons should be stopped till the time regular salary is be paid to the state employees. In a statement, Akali leader and former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa alleged that it was shocking that the Congress government was "defaulting" on payment of salaries to government employees.

He said, "It was also condemnable that a government which was collecting the highest taxes in the country was unable to pay the November salaries of more than 70,000 employees of six state departments, including irrigation, industry, technical education, rural development, agriculture and planning." BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh also hit out at the Congress-led regime over the issue.

"This government has been a complete failure on all fronts," alleged Chugh. Dhindsa alleged that the employees were also being "discriminated" as the government has "failed" to release seven instalments of their dearness allowance.