Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday chaired a series of meetings with employee unions of various departments to discuss their grievances and find amicable solutions to their ongoing issues. The meetings saw active participation of delegations from the Veterinary Pharmacist Action Committee, the Overage Berozgar Union, the Adarsh School Teaching and Non-Teaching Association, the Punjab AIDS Control Employees Welfare Association, and the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) Worker and ASHA Facilitator Union.
Assuring the unions of the Punjab Government’s employee-friendly approach, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “The CM Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Punjab Government is committed to addressing the genuine concerns of employees in a constructive manner. All legitimate demands will be examined on priority and the resolution process will be expedited.”
During a meeting with representatives of the ASHA Worker and ASHA Facilitator Union, the minister also directed the Health and Family Welfare Department to prepare a comprehensive framework for providing health and life insurance coverage to ASHA workers, aimed at strengthening their social security and well-being.
Reviewing the memorandums submitted by the employee unions, Harpal Singh Cheema heard concerns related to the regularisation of long-serving contractual and temporary employees, age relaxation for upcoming Master Cadre recruitments, salary revisions, transparent transfer and service policies, and the restoration of welfare benefits. Following detailed discussions, he directed the respective administrative departments to resolve all legitimate demands at the earliest.
Davinderpal Singh Lasoi, Jaswinder Kumar, Manpreet Singh Dhillon and Harbhajan Singh from the Veterinary Pharmacist Action Committee, Raman Kumar Malout and Lalita from the Overage Beruzgar Union, Saleem Mohammad, Amarjot Joshi, Amandeep Shastri and Balwinder Singh from the Adarsh School Teaching and Non-Teaching Association, Jasmail Singh Deol, Gurjant Singh and Rupinder Kaur from the Punjab AIDS Control Employees Welfare Association, and Saroj Bala and Surjinder Kaur from the ASHA Worker and ASHA Facilitator Union presented their case during the meetings.