After the Punjab government decided to offer pay scales to the new recruits in the State government on the Central government pattern, the Opposition parties have turned the heat on the Congress. They are terming the move \u2018anti-employees\u2019 and demanding a \u2018White Paper\u2019 on the jobs given by the Amarinder Singh government in its present tenure.<\/p>\n
The main Opposition, the Aam Aadmi Party, has demanded an immediate withdrawal of the order, terming it an \u2018anti-employee\u2019 decision. Senior party leader and MLA Aman Arora said the decision to implement the Central pay scales in Punjab would mean a drastic cut in the salaries of the newly recruited employees. \u201cEmployees across Punjab have already been forced to take to the streets against the excesses, injustices and anti-employee policies being meted out to them under the high-handedness of the government,\u201d he alleged.<\/p>\n
Another AAP MLA, Meet Hayer, said the government should issue a \u2018White Paper\u2019 on how many jobs had been offered to the youth in the State so far under the Congress\u2019 much-hyped poll promise \u2014 \u2018Ghar-Ghar Naukri<\/em>\u2019 (job in every household).<\/p>\n Punjab Finance Department had last week issued an instruction, stating, \u201cThe State government, after careful consideration, has decided that pay scales admissible to all prospective appointments \u2014 direct recruitments\/compassionate appointments \u2014 in any cadre of any administrative department or the entities there under shall not be higher than the pay scale admissible to the said cadre in the Government of India.\u201d <\/p>\n Pay scales of the Punjab government employees are higher than their equivalents at the Centre.<\/p>\n Shiromani Akali Dal also opposed the decision and accused the State government of failing to safeguard the interests of its employees. Party spokesperson N.K. Sharma, said, \u201c… it is shocking to see that the Punjab government is continuously taking decisions to cause maximum damage to the interests of the government employees. The government has already delayed the Sixth Pay Commission and has failed to give pending dearness allowance to the employees.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe will oppose this anti-employee decision, which is set to harm the interests of the newly recruited employees. If the Congress wants to save the government money, then it should curtail its expenditure on Ministers and others,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n