India News | Punjab: Cong Govt Under Opposition Fire over Payscale Issue
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Opposition parties in Punjab on Saturday condemned the Punjab government over its move of offering pay scales to new recruits on par with that of the Centre, saying it is a "betrayal" with the youth of the state.
Chandigarh, Jul 18 (PTI) Opposition parties in Punjab on Saturday condemned the Punjab government over its move of offering pay scales to new recruits on par with that of the Centre, saying it is a "betrayal" with the youth of the state.
Pay scales of Punjab government employees are usually more than their counterparts at the Centre and many states.
With the latest move of the Punjab government, new recruits would have lesser pay scales, the opposition said.
The state finance department, in its latest instruction, said pay scales admissible to all prospective appointments -- direct recruitment or compassionate appointments -- in any cadre of any administrative department or the entities shall not be more than the pay scales admissible to the said cadre in the Government of India.
"This decision reflects the negative attitude of the state government towards the employees and state youth. Pay scales in Punjab are now the highest in the country and the credit for the same goes to the previous SAD-BJP government," Shiromani Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema said
"But the present government, which had promised to give jobs to the unemployed youth, has now decided to reduce pay scales for new recruits by offering pay scales not more than that of the Centre."
"This is a betrayal with the state youth," Cheema said.
Another SAD leader, N K Sharma, accused the Congress government of having "failed miserably" in safeguarding the interest of state employees.
"It is shocking to see that the Punjab government is continuously taking decisions to cause maximum damage to the interests of government employees," he said in a statement here.
This government has already delayed the Sixth Pay Commission and has failed to give pending dearness allowance to the employees, Sharma said. "This decision is totally unjustified, unwarranted and daylight robbery on the rights of the employees."
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) termed the government's decision "anti-employee" and demanded immediate withdrawal of the order. The government's "so-called 'ghar-ghar-naukri' rhetoric stood exposed", it said.
In a joint statement, senior AAP leader and legislator Aman Arora and spokesperson Meet Hayer, claimed that the government's decision to implement central pay scales in Punjab would mean a "quantum cut" in salaries of the newly-recruited employees by 35 to 40 per cent.
The move would prove "fatal" for new employees, and the AAP would oppose it strongly, the leaders said, adding that state government staff across Punjab were already "forced to take to the streets" to protest the "anti-employee" policies.
Hayer, a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, said the government should first issue a white paper on how many jobs had been offered to the youth so far under the 'Ghar Ghar Rozgar Yojana'.
BJP National Secretary Tarun Chugh also lashed out at the state government, asking it to cut down its "unproductive expenditure" rather than giving lesser pay scales to new employees.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)