Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday threatened to stage a ‘dharna’ against Governor Banwarilal Purohit for withholding his assent to a bill for regularising 36,000 contractual employees. Channi also accused Purohit of dithering on approving the bill under pressure from the BJP.
The state assembly had passed ‘the Punjab Protection and Regularization of Contractual Employees Bill-2021’ last November for regularising 36,000 employees working on contract or on ad hoc, temporary or daily basis in different government departments.
“But the governor has stopped the file (relating to the bill) because of some political reasons,” Channi said while addressing the media here for giving the report card on 100 days of his regime. The chief minister said he along with his ministers had already met the governor on the issue while the chief secretary had also visited the governor twice.
Channi said he and his ministers will meet the governor again on Monday. “If he does not do it (clear the file) then it is politics. If we have to stage a ‘dharna’, we will do it but we have to regularise employees. A law has been framed,” he said.
“It is his (the governor’s) responsibility to clear the file. Earlier, I thought he was busy somewhere. But as I have already met him and the CS visited him, it is now politics. Because there is pressure from the BJP, he should not do politics,” Channi said. Channi said it was the question of the future of several employees who had been anxiously waiting for a day when their services would be regularised.
Last month, Channi had met the governor and had raised the issue of 12 bills including the regularisation bills requiring his assent. Ahead of the Punjab assembly polls, the Channi government has been facing criticism for not being able to fulfill his promise of the regularisation of contractual employees.
At the medic conference, Channi highlighted the major pro-people initiatives taken by his government during 100 days like setting up of several chairs in the name of eminent personalities like Bhagwan Valmiki, Guru Ravidass, Bhagat Kabir, Bhagwan Parshuram and Bhai Jaita (Baba Jiwan Singh).
Replying to a query for establishing another chair in the name of the legendary martyr Shaheed Udham Singh Sunam, Channi assured that he would certainly get this issue examined for setting up the chair in recognition of the enormous contribution of iconic revolutionary in the national freedom struggle.
Emphasizing the need to intensify efforts to boost employment avenues, Channi said his government is already in the advanced stage of implementing the employment guarantee scheme which would be announced soon as the modalities in this regard have already been cleared. He also mentioned that the process for the regularisation of services of 4,587 ‘safai sewaks’ and sewermen working on contract basis in various urban local bodies is already underway.
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