No talks under threat: Punjab puts striking staff on notice

Jalandhar: Escalating its confrontation with protesting staff, the Punjab government is preparing to clamp down on lakhs of employees who participated in the statewide ‘maha-strike’ on August 27 by taking mass casual leave.

Punjab government employees raising slogans during the statewide strike outside the deputy commissioner’s office in Amritsar on August 27. (Sameer Sehgal/HT)

In a fresh communique sent to all administrative secretaries and department heads, the department of general administration directed disciplinary authorities to issue show-cause notices and initiate strict action under applicable service rules against staff marked absent without authorisation. This follows an earlier directive ordering officials to compile full lists of absentees.

The punitive push comes right as employee unions assemble at Ludhiana’s Bachat Bhawan on Sunday to map out their response.

Tensions flared after chief minister Bhagwant Mann abruptly cancelled a scheduled August 27 meeting in Jalandhar with the Joint Coordination Committee of government employees, posting on X that while staff are part of the state’s family, “dialogue and strikes cannot proceed together.”

The shutdown, organised by the Punjab Sanjha Mulazam Manch—an umbrella group of over 150 unions—paralysed state administrative machinery as roughly four lakh staff took leave, backed by 3.5 lakh pensioners protesting at district, sub-divisional, and block offices. As a result, government operations were hit with outpatient department (OPD) services in state-run hospitals suspended, public transport disrupted and schools and civic administrative offices closed.

Demonstrators are pushing for the release of an 18% dearness allowance backlog, the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, and the regularisation of contractual workers.

Unions have reacted angrily to the threat of disciplinary action, warning that intimidation will backfire. Gurnam Singh Virk, the president of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union, declared that the government is mistaken if it believes warnings will crush employee resolve, adding that withdrawal of both the August 27 and August 29 letters will now be a prerequisite for any future negotiations.