NO WORK IN GOVT SCHOOLS, HEALTH SERVICES STALLED; EMPLOYEES HOLD PROTEST MARCH

Raj Sadosh/Abohar.

State govt employees across Punjab went on strike and staged a protest on Thursday after taking mass leave to press for their demands that included DA arrears. Representatives from various government departments participated. Hundreds of government school teachers joined the strike, resulting in no-work in schools.

This is after four decades that Punjab government employees have gone on strike by taking mass leave. With doctors and health workers also joining the strike, OPD services remained suspended at both government hospitals and ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’.

Employees gathered at Nehru Park at 10 AM, from where a massive protest march was taken out; they proceeded to the SDM office to stage a protest and burnt an effigy of the Punjab government.

The Punjab government faced fierce criticism from various representatives, including Rajinderpal Singh Brar and Surendra Nagpal (Teachers’ Union), Ashok Watts and Vinod Sharma (Retired Municipal Employees Welfare Association, Shankar Lal (Powercom Pensioners’ Association), Anup Ram (Talmel Sangharsh Committee), Bagga Singh (DTF), Nirmal Singh (Powercom), Surendra (TSU), Bhupendra Kaur (Computer Teachers’ Union), Mohan Lal (B.Ed. Teachers Front), Jagtar Singh (Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan), Chander Kumar (Kanungo Union), Satnam Singh (Punjab Mandi Board), Neeraj (Punjab Student Union), Harji Ram (Canal Department), and Rinku (Municipal Safai Sewak Union), among others.