Visitors bear brunt of strike by DC office staff

Harshraj Singh
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, September 10

The work got badly affected at the district administration offices as employees continued their strike on second day. They are demanding action against MLA Simarjit Singh Bains for allegedly misbehaving with the Gurdaspur DC.

Though many employees were available in the offices, they refused to carry out any office work. The visitors were being asked to come after Wednesday. However, members of the Punjab State District DC Office Employees’ Union will take a final decision tomorrow whether they will end or extend their strike.

A visitor, Jaskiran Singh (51), said, “I was not aware of the strike. When I visited the district administration office today, the employees were present but they refused to hear me. They said they can’t work due to the ongoing strike. The government must tell the employees to resume their work as people are facing harassment.”

“We had sat on dharna on Monday, but we did not mark such protest today. We will resume work only when the union will announce to end the strike,” said an employee.

President of the DC Office Employees’ Union, Ludhiana, Vikas Kumar Juneja said, “We will continue our strike on Wednesday. Senior officials will also join the protest. Kanungo, Tehsildar, Naid Tehsildar and Patwaris will also observe the strike tomorrow.”

The union has demanded that Bains should be disqualified from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and he should be barred from contesting elections in the future too. The union also demanded the arrest of persons who had allegedly made Zira SDM hostage. They have warned the government that if action was not taken against the accused, they would intensify their agitation.