Chandigarh, January 14
Government employees have announced to start a countrywide agitation demanding repealing of the Pension Fund Regulatory amp; Development Authority Act, restoration of old pension, regularisation of contractual workers and filling lakhs of vacant posts with confirmed recruitment.
Due to the restoration of old pension in Himachal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, the morale of employees is high and now they feel that Delhi is not far away. The nationwide movement will be started with a sit-in demonstration at the Parliament during the Budget session. The announcement of the movement was made by Subhash Lamba, president of the All-India State Government Employees Federation, while addressing the employees’ conference here today.
Employees from Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana participated in the conference. The conference passed a resolution demanding withdrawal of all other forms of harassment, including taking back dismissed contractual employees of Chandigarh on duty who had participated in the strike against the privatisation of the Electricity Department last year.
Lamba said in January and February, joint employees’ conferences of Central and state government employees would be organised in all states. It had been started by holding a conference in Chandigarh from Saturday.
He said in the next phase of the movement, March to June (four months), workers’ conferences would be organised in all districts, tehsils, talukas and blocks of the country. In July, hundreds of employees’ vehicles would be driven under the leadership of national and state-level leaders from all four corners of the country. These groups would reach New Delhi in September by holding public meetings in all metros, cities and towns with the slogan “reach to each”.
