MLA principal Budh Ram on Thursday raised the issue of the ministerial and secretariat employees on a pen-down strike

Chandigarh, February 21: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA principal Budh Ram on Thursday raised the issue of the ministerial and secretariat employees on a pen-down strike, said on the floor of the House during zero hour that the chief minister (CM) should immediately hold talks with the striking employees and arrange for the release of pending dearness allowance (DA) amounting to Rs 3363 crore and resolve their other issues.

He informed the House that out of these, three of the pending installments of DA dated back to the erstwhile SAD-BJP regime and four to that of the government currently in the saddle. He said that the government should reintroduce the old pension scheme for employees and implement the recommendation of the 6 th  Pay Commission after scrapping the extended period.

Taking up the issue concerning the bills for sewerage in 5-marla houses in the area, Barnala MLA Gurmit Singh (Meet Hayer)  said that on July 11, 2006, then Captain Amarinder Singh Government had exempted the residents of 5-marla tenements in the area. He lamented that the Municipal Corporation reintroduced the billing by adopting a resolution, without assigning any valid reason for that. Hayer demanded that the government should immediately scrap the resolution adopted by the corporation and Municipal Council and bail out the poor residents from the mess.