Two protests in bypoll-bound Jalandhar West on penultimate day of campaign
The Unemployed Sanjha Morcha Punjab and Punjab Pay Scale Bahali Sanjha Front are the two unions protesting against the government.
4 min read
Members of the the Unemployed Sanjha Morcha Punjab in Jalandhar. (Express Photo) The Unemployed Sanjha Morcha Punjab and Punjab Pay Scale Bahali Sanjha Front will on Sunday organise two protest rallies at different locations in Jalandhar West, which is heading for a bypoll on July 10.
“Unemployed Sanjha Morcha is a joint forum of 5 unions of unemployed persons seeking jobs in the government sector. These are unemployed Bachelor in Education (BEd), teacher eligibility test (TET) pass union, overage unemployed union, maths, science BEd, TET pass unemployed union, art and craft TET pass unemployed union and unemployed multipurpose health worker union,” said Sukhwinder Singh, office-bearer of Unemployed Sanjha Morcha.
“All the union members had cleared the required government tests years ago but the previous governments were not giving them jobs and the AAP had promised to give them jobs. But they didn’t fulfil their promise, and even when we protested, the police used force against us. So, we have planned a protest in the constituency going for polls to expose the ruling government,” added Sukhwinder.
“We will do a protest rally at Ravidas Chowk in Jalandhar on Sunday afternoon and, after that, will march towards AAP’s party office to protest outside that office as well.”
Raman Kumar Malaut, president of Overage Unemployed Union, said, “AAP had promised it in their poll manifesto to give us jobs. Bhagwant Mann even asked why there is an age limit for seeking government jobs when there is no age limit for contesting polls by politicians. As of now, a person can apply for a government job up to the age of 35. However, Mann never discussed this topic after coming to power. Hence, we have no choice but to protest.”
Sukhwinder said,” During the Lok Sabha polls, we gave memorandums to the AAP candidates, but as the issue is connected to the state, we will be protesting on Sunday against the AAP government.”
Pay scale revival
The Punjab Pay Scale Bahali Sanjha Front will also protest in Jalandhar West on Sunday. These are the employees recruited after 2020 for whom the Centre pay scale has been made applicable instead of the Punjab pay scale.
“The Centre pay scale is less than Punjab’s pay scale, so the salaries of new employees are less than those of those getting Punjab pay scale. Hence, our demand is no vote if there is no Punjab pay scale. We have made such posters as well,” said Yudhjit Singh, convenor of Punjab Pay Scale Bahali Sanjha Morcha.
He said, “Then finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal imposed a Centre pay scale on the new recruitments from 2020 onwards, and afterwards, over 60,000 employees were recruited using the same pay scale. In fact, the central pay scale is also not being given fully, which is why the pay difference is huge. On Sunday, we will organise a rally in a public park in Jalandhar West to lodge our protest. Already, we have distributed posters to the employees in the constituency as well, which say, vote if there is no revival of Punjab pay scale.”
The bypoll to the Jalandhar West (SC) Assembly seat will be held on July 10, and the votes will be counted on July 13. The bypoll was necessitated following Sheetal Angural’s resignation as an AAP legislator. Angural is the BJP candidate, while Mohinder Bhagat is the AAP candidate.
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