Breaking: Punjab Employees, pensioners announce Sangrur rally on Oct 10; 2-day collective leave on Oct 21-22
By Prabh Sidhu
Hoshiarpur (Punjab), September 28, 2026: The Joint Coordination Committee of the Punjab Employees and Pensioners Joint Front and Joint Employees Forum, Punjab, has announced a fresh agitation programme, including a state-level rally in Sangrur on October 10 and a two-day collective leave on October 21 and 22 if their demands are not resolved.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee held at Bachat Bhawan in Hoshiarpur under the joint chairmanship of Joint Front Convener-cum-Coordinator Satish Rana and Joint Forum Chief Convener Gurnam Singh Virk.
The committee reviewed its previous programmes, including protests and actions outside the residences of ministers and MLAs on September 12-13 and 19-20. Leaders said employees and pensioners had participated in the programmes in large numbers.
The committee also condemned what its leaders described as an attempt by the Punjab government to defame representatives of the Joint Coordination Committee through photographs and videos following their September 18 meeting with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
The leaders expressed confidence in the representatives who participated in the meeting with the Chief Minister.
Employees, Pensioners Reiterate Demands
The committee reiterated a long list of demands, including implementation of pension revision with a 2.59 multiplication factor as recommended by the Pay Commission and restoration of the old pension scheme.
Other demands include filling vacant government posts with regular salaries, regularisation of contractual employees, merger of regularised computer teachers with the Education Department and amendments to the May 16, 2023 regularisation policy.
The organisations also demanded that workers employed on honorarium or incentive-based arrangements, including mid-day meal workers, ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, sanitation workers, chowkidars and sevadars, be brought under the minimum wage framework.
They further sought withdrawal of the central pay scales imposed through the July 17, 2020 notification and changes concerning the probationary period, along with revision of discontinued allowances, including the rural allowance.
The committee also called for implementation of the second part of the Pay Commission report, restoration of the ACP scheme, an increase in the monthly medical allowance to Rs 2,000, release of pending dearness allowance instalments and arrears, and payment of Pay Commission arrears in a lump sum.
Other demands include raising the gratuity ceiling from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh on the Central Government pattern, extending the benefit to boards, corporations and other institutions, withdrawal of the Rs 200 monthly development tax, and generalisation of court decisions delivered in favour of employees and pensioners.
District Meetings on October 1
The committee reviewed preparations for the proposed Sangrur rally on October 10. Leaders said that if the Chief Minister failed to meet the Joint Coordination Committee during the first week of October, as previously promised, and address their demands, employees and pensioners would intensify the agitation.
They claimed the Sangrur rally would draw a larger participation than their August 7 rally in Chandigarh.
The committee also announced that the employees’ assembly scheduled for September 30 has been cancelled. Instead, district-level meetings will be held at district secretariat offices across Punjab on October 1 at 2 pm to prepare for the upcoming programmes.
The leaders said employees would proceed with the proposed two-day collective leave on October 21 and 22 if their demands remained unresolved.