Bathinda: Aiming to confront the Aam Aadmi Party govt in Punjab over employee issues, mainly pending instalments of dearness allowance (DA) for govt employees and dearness relief (DR) for govt pensioners, Shiromani Akali Dal, Congress and BJP have announced support for the Aug 27 protest by employees and pensioners.A large number of state govt employees have decided to go on casual leave on Aug 27 to join the daylong protest called by the coordination committee of Punjab Mulazam and Pensioners Sanjha Front and Sanjha Mulazam Manch.This will be the third major employees’ agitation in Aug. A number of employees assembled in Chandigarh on Aug 7 under the banner of the Sanjha Mulazam and Pensioners Front over issues of DA/DR and the old pension scheme.On Aug 23, protesting employees gathered in Satauj, the native village of chief minister Bhagwant Mann, demanding implementation of the old pension scheme, among other issues. The use of water cannons by police during both protests increased anger against the state govt.Punjab govt employees are drawing 18% less DA than central govt employees. Punjab govt employees get 42% DA, while their central govt counterparts get 60%.DA/DR is revised every six months, from Jan 1 and July 1. Punjab govt employees lag behind their central govt counterparts by six half-yearly instalments.In its order on Aug 3, the Punjab and Haryana high court directed the state govt to provide the pending DA to employees within two weeks. The state govt challenged the order before a division bench, which upheld it.Sources said the state govt is considering the option of releasing 6% DA/DR and has called employee representatives for a meeting on Aug 27.The opposition has thrown its collective weight behind the employees. In a social media post, Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring announced that the Congress supports the demands of employees and pensioners.His BJP counterpart, Kewal Singh Dhillon, uploaded a post supporting their demands and the Aug 27 protest call.Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also lent support to the employees’ DA demands.Joint Action Committee chairman Sukhchain Singh Khaira said employees were all set to hold the protest by going on casual leave on Aug 27.
