Chandigarh, Aug 3 (IANS) Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon on Monday hailed the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict on releasing the dearness allowance (DA) of the state employees and slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for its failure to release it.
Dhillon said the High Court’s direction to the government to release the withheld DA to employees within 15 days is a strong rebuff to the AAP government. He said the verdict clearly established that the state government has been consistently depriving employees of their legitimate dues.
Targeting the AAP government’s double standards, Dhillon said before the Assembly elections, Arvind Kejriwal, now former Delhi Chief Minister, and Bhagwant Mann, now the Punjab Chief Minister, had made grand promises and guarantees to Punjab’s employees. When Mann visited the Civil Secretariat for the first time after assuming office, employees welcomed him by showering flowers. However, the reality today “is that the same government is suppressing the rights of those very employees”.
He said the situation has deteriorated to the extent that the government is no longer paying heed even to court orders. Comparing the policies of the Central and Punjab governments, Dhillon said every employee in Punjab now “acknowledges that the BJP-led Central government has adopted far more employee-friendly policies”.
Dhillon pointed out that while the Central government is providing 60 per cent DA to its employees, the AAP government in Punjab is reluctant to even provide 42 per cent DA. These figures, he said, exposed the wide gap between the AAP’s political claims and the ground reality.
The state BJP chief said the party always stood firmly for the welfare and rights of employees, and that the Central government has consistently prioritised their interests.
He appealed to employees to recognise the reality behind the Aam Aadmi Party’s false and hollow guarantees and support the BJP so that employees’ rights can be protected and their legitimate dues are delivered on time.
–IANS
vg/uk
