With Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday asking the striking Punjab Civil Service (PCS) and revenue officers to join duty by 2 p.m., or face strict action, they withdrew their protest and decided to resume work immediately.
The decision to end the strike was taken after a meeting between Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, A. Venu Prasad, and a five-member delegation of the PCS Officers' Association led by its President Rajat Oberoi here.
After over an hour meeting, Prasad said the association decided to end the strike and it promised that they would not shield the corrupt officers. "The anti-corruption drive would continue," he said. Oberoi said with the assurance given by the Chief Minister that no injustice would be meted out to any person, they decided to call back their strike.
Earlier in the day, in an official letter to Chief Secretary V.K. Janjua, Chief Minister Mann asked him to suspend all those officials and employees who do not join their duties by the given time framework.
He said that the officials and employees were trying to blackmail the government by exerting pressure and protecting the corrupt. This action of employees is "blackmailing and arm twisting", he said. "We have zero tolerance to corruption," he said while adding that the strike could not be tolerated by any responsible government.
Members of the association proceeded on a five-day casual leave on Monday to protest against the arrest of their colleague Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, Secretary, Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Ludhiana, who was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on January 6 in a corruption case.
At the meeting between the association and the Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, the government agreed to make an Special Investigating Team to decide if the action against Dhaliwal was according to procedure or not.
At least 235 PCS officers across Punjab were on mass casual leave. The offices of Deputy Commissioners, Civil Secretariats, Divisional Commissioners, and Revenue offices wore a deserted look during the strike.