With an eye on the Assembly elections next year, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab has focused its attention on the vote bank of Government employees. In an attempt to woo this section, the State Government has started a series of talks with the employees associations to sort their issues and demands.
The High Powered Committee under the Chairmanship of Sarvesh Kaushal, Chief Secretary Punjab held marathon meetings with the 57 Employees’ Unions on Tuesday. The unions of Higher Education, School Education and Technical Education participated in the deliberations.
Earlier, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was supposed to preside over these meetings with employee associations but due to his health problems, Chief Secretary has been asked to do the job to enlist all the grievances and make suggestion for the resolution of the employees’ issues.
After listening to the grievances, demands and proposals of the Employees Associations on the second day, the high powered committee reiterated, Punjab government’s resolve to fill all the vacant posts in the departments.
The Chief Secretary has asked the officers concerned to ensure absolute transparency in the recruitment process and he also said that merit should not be compromised at any level at the time of giving employment. laying more emphasis on teacher-taught ratio in the colleges, Kaushal said that this procedure should also be adopted in colleges like in schools to ensure quality education. Expressing concern over the delay in giving salaries to employees in the districts, Kaushal has asked the departments to ensure timely disbursal of salaries to the employees.
During the meeting Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Punjab SK Sandhu took up the matter with the concerned Secretaries, who were present in the meeting, and directed them to consider the recommendations of the employees as per the rules.
It was also decided that within a month under the rules the DPCs of the various cadre posts would be convened and the promotions to the deserving employees would be given within two months. Top officials of the state government participated in the meeting.