Patiala/Bathinda: Hundreds of Punjab government employees, pensioners and scheme workers breached police barricades on Saturday and staged a sit-in outside the private residence of Punjab Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh in Patiala, escalating their confrontation with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.The protest, coordinated by the Punjab Mulazam te Pensioners Sanjha Front and Mulazam Manch Punjab, began with a rally at PUDA Ground. Protesters from Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts then travelled in a cavalcade towards Singh’s residence, forced their way through police cordons and gathered outside the gate.Similar protests were held outside the residences of Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan at Sandhwan village in Faridkot and Deputy Speaker Jai Kishan Rori in Garhshankar on Saturday.The committee plans to hold protests outside the residences of Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains at Gambhirpur village in Anandpur Sahib, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO in Amritsar, and Cabinet Minister Aman Arora in Sunam on Sunday.Coordination committee leaders Dhanwant Singh Bhathal, Bachittar Singh, Hardeep Todarpur, Vikram Dev Singh and Jasvir Singh Khokhar accused the state government of reneging on election promises, issuing misleading statements and avoiding direct negotiations. They said the agitation would continue until their entire charter of demands was met.Their demands include the immediate release of the pending 18% dearness allowance (DA) instalments and arrears; implementation of the 2.59 fitment factor for pensioners and unrevised staff categories; restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS); and regularisation of contractual, temporary and outsourced employees.They also sought statutory minimum wages for honorarium workers, including Mid-Day Meal, ASHA and Anganwadi workers; restoration of 37 withdrawn allowances and the Assured Career Progression (ACP) Scheme; Punjab pay scales instead of Central Pay Commission scales for employees recruited after July 17, 2020; and full pay during the probation period.Harjit Singh, Patiala district general secretary of AAP’s employee wing, resigned from the party and joined the protesters. Samyukta Kisan Morcha leaders Davinder Singh Poonia and Darshan Belumajra also joined the blockade in solidarity.
