DA, pension arrears alert! Employees, pensioners of this state to launch protest - Here is why

In a major development, government employees and pensioners in Punjab have announced to launch protests against the state government over their demands, including the release of pending instalments of dearness allowance and arrears. As part of their proposed protests, they have decided to burn the effigy of the state government on August 4 and 5 in the state. They will wear black dress and hand over protest letters to legislators between August 10 and 14, members of the Punjab Employees' Joint Front said on Tuesday.

"We will hoist black flags on August 15 at our houses as a mark of protest against the government," said Sukhchain Khaira, convener of the front. "If our demands are not met by then, we will observe a strike on August 18," said Khaira. Employees have been demanding three pending instalments of dearness allowance and arrears and regularisation of contractual employees, said Khaira.

The employees were also upset over the state government's recent decisions of offering a pay scale to new recruits on par with the central government's pay scale and reduction in mobile allowance.

Recently, Modi government in an official statement issued by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions had confirmed that government employees retiring during COVID-19 pandemic will be receiving "provisional" pension till their regular Pension Payment Order (PPO) is issued and other official formalities completed.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said, "After the Modi government took over, the Department of Pensions had upgraded and equipped itself to deliver the PPO to the concerned employee without delay on the day of his or her superannuation. Besides this, in the last few years, taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on digitalization, the Department of Pension also created a Portal, which could be accessed by any government employee approaching superannuation to find out the status of his or her pension papers."