Salaries of 2 lakh Punjab govt employees could be hit as ministerial staff extends strike

The strike has resulted in public inconvenience as day-to-day works have been affected.

Amrik Singh Sandhu, president of Punjab State Ministerial Services Union (PSMSU), said, “The staff of the Treasury department is also on strike with us. The ministerial staff of every government department prepares the salary slips and sends them to the Treasury department and this work is yet to be done this month. So, November salaries are likely to be delayed if our issues are not resolved.”

Sandhu added, “Salaries are usually disbursed on the first of every month. Over 2 lakh employees working in over 50 government departments of Punjab will be affected, including the officers cadre, deputy commissioners or any other officer. We too will not be getting our salaries. Hence, it is up to the government whether it wants to reach out to the employees or not.”

Nearly 50,000 staff are on strike while many outsourced employees and those of the officer cadre are working. However, as the majority of works are interconnected, public dealing has been affected a lot due to the strike.

Not just salaries, several employees have bills like medical bills, travel bills or other expenditure bills which need to be cleared and even such bills are on hold.

Interestingly, the employees on strike are marking their attendance and sitting on a dharna on a daily basis.

“The footfall at the government offices has also reduced a lot after news about the strike spread through word of mouth. A person wanted to get his medical test done as he had got a new job. It was a big task for us to get the work done by a contractual employee as the union members are stopping even the contractual employees from working,” said an official from the Fazilka district administration.

It has been learnt that all the deputy commissioners of the respective districts have held repeated meetings with the local union members and their memorandums have been sent to the CMO. But the employees are yet to hear from the Chief Minister or his office.

Ghanshyam Thori, deputy commissioner Amritsar when asked about this crisis, said, “We are trying to get emergency files cleared so that salary is paid on time.”

Senu Kapila Duggal, deputy commissioner, Fazilka, said, “So far, salaries have not been made as the ministerial staff is on strike.”

Showkat Ahmad Parray, deputy commissioner, Bathinda, said, “The work to disburse salaries usually starts after the 25th of every month and salaries are disbursed by the first of every month. Majority of this work is done by the ministerial staff and thus, the salaries are delayed as of now.”