Govt should immediately release due financial benefits to state employees: Dr Sohal

Chandigarh, February 7: Punjab unit chief of Intellectual Wing of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Kashmir Singh Sohal and secretary Bhim Inder Singh jointly flayed the Captain government for denying the financial benefits due to the millions of employees in the state. They were addressing the state executive   committee of the wing at the party headquarters in Chandigarh on Thursday.

Expressing serious concern over the non-payment of four installments (2017-2018) of dearness allowance (DA) payable to the state employees on central pattern, Sohal said it was a matter of serious concern to deny what they rightfully deserved. He also accused the government of dilly dallying on implementing the Pay Commission recommendations.

Sohal further said that on recruitment front the government had been dragging its feet, saying that thousands of posts in various departments were lying vacant for a long time now, which, he said, crippled the functioning of the government machinery. He further said that newly-recruited employees were being forced to work on the basic pay and were denied the full wages under the norms, despite orders of the Punjab and Haryana High court in this regard.

This had led to widespread resentment among the employees in the state, who were left to fight for their rights by resorting to agiatation, Sohal said. Sohal has demanded that the government should immediately release the financial benefits due to the employees over a period of time and ensure full pay scales with perks to the newly-recruited employees. He also urged the government to immediately implement the 6^th Pay Commission recommendations in the state.