The Bhagwant Mann Government has urged Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to immediately approve The Punjab State Outsourced Personnel Transition to Contractual Engagement Ordinance, 2026, emphasising the long-pending measure will end the exploitation of thousands of outsourced employees and pave the way for their transition to direct contractual engagement with the state government.
Addressing a press conference, senior AAP leader Punjab and Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the Bhagwant Singh Mann Government has consistently prioritised employment generation and workers' welfare, while calling out previous Congress and Akali Dal-BJP governments of institutionalising contractor-based exploitation.
Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, "The Ordinance, approved by the Punjab Cabinet under the leadership of CM Bhagwant Singh Mann on July 13, 2026, will facilitate transition of thousands of long-suffering outsourced workers, including sanitation workers, sewer workers, and power board staff into direct contractual engagement with the state government, effectively ending their exploitation by third-party contractors."
Expressing concern over the 12-day pending status of the file at Raj Bhavan, the Finance Minister urged the Governor to sign the measure promptly to grant urgent relief to thousands of families and workers across the state. Highlighting the Bhagwant Singh Mann Government's commitment to employment generation and curbing youth brain drain, Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, "Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann began his tenure by committing 30,000 government posts in the very first Cabinet meeting in March 2022."
Contrasting this with previous governments over the past three decades, he continued, "While earlier regimes typically advertised government jobs only in their fourth year, the Bhagwant Singh Mann government has provided more than 66,000 government jobs in just four years and five months, and further recruitment drives will be undertaken during the remaining months of the government's term."
Highlighting measures for teachers, Harpal Singh Cheema added, "Our government has regularised and increased the salaries of nearly 13,000 teachers who had been struggling for years, raising their pay from a nominal ₹6,000 to ₹25,000 to ₹26,000 along with annual increments."
Speaking on the Ordinance, the senior AAP leader revealed, "The contractual outsourcing system introduced by previous Congress and Akali Dal-BJP governments has subjected young professionals to years of financial and professional exploitation, with many serving through contractors for five to eleven years.
Once the Governor approves the Ordinance, individual government departments will systematically absorb eligible outsourced workers onto direct state contracts based on the prescribed criteria."Reaffirming the Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Punjab Government's commitment to safeguarding workers' dignity, Harpal Singh Cheema said, "Through the media, I once again humbly appeal to the Governor to grant immediate assent to the Ordinance so that the lives of thousands of Punjab's essential workers can be transformed.”