Punjab govt to implement ‘no work, no pay’ as employees extend pen-down till Sep 11

According to a directive issued by the department of personnel to all top administrative secretaries, officials received reports that many employees were marking their attendance before abandoning their duties, causing disruption and public inconvenience during working hours. “Such employees will be treated as being on unauthorised absence and will not be paid salary following the established ‘no work, no pay principle’,” the personnel department wrote. It further stated that appropriate disciplinary action would also be initiated against all employees found absent.

The protesting employees, under the banner of the Sanjha Mulazam Manch, decided to extend the pen-down strike until Friday. “There has been no channel for talks with the government and the pending DA has also not been released. Therefore, we have decided to intensify the protest,” said Sahil Sharma, general secretary of the Civil Secretariat Employees’ Union.

Earlier in the day, the administrative work was hit as employees across the state secretariat, directorates, deputy commissioner offices and tehsil offices halted work. The protesters are demanding immediate release of ₹14,191 crore in pending dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) arrears.