Chandigarh, November, 30 : The call given by Joint Action Committee (JAC) consisting of Non-govt. Colleges Management Federation Punjab and Chandigarh, Federation of Associations of College Principals-Punjab and Chandigarh. Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU), Federation of Non-teaching employees, received a massive responses all over the state. Joint rallies were held at Amritsar, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Patiala, Anandpur Sahib, Barnala, Ferozpore and Abohar. After the rallies marches were held.
At Chanidgarh the rally was held at MCMDAV College for women and later on teachers held a march. Addressing the rally Dr. Jagwant Singh, General Secretary of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) blamed the Govt. for the ongoing agitation. He said that we regret the inconvenience caused to students due to an agitation thrust upon them by the Govt. of Punjab. He said that the very fact that all the stakeholders i.e. Managements, Principals, Teachers and Non-teaching Staff are together in these protests shows that the issues involved are much larger than the demands of employees. The issues are crucial for the health of entire college education sector. Failure to address these issues is playing with the future of next generations of Punjab.
Prof. Ghanshyam Dev, President of Chandigarh Dist. Council of PCCTU criticized Chandigarh Administration for delay in issuing the orders for pay scales of non-teaching employees of aided colleges of Chandigarh despite the concurrence received from MHRD, Govt. of India. Mrs. Rupinder Chatha of MCM DAV College demanded that Akali Dal, Govt. must implement its own decision taken on the issue of pension and gratuity on December 12, 2001 under the Act of 1999.
The other main demands are implementation of revised pay scales and allowances for non-teaching employees w.e.f. 1.1.2006, lifting of ban on recruitment release of arrears revised pay scales. Others who addressed the rally are Sh. R.K. Sharma, Sh. Vinod and PU fellow Dr. Dinesh Talwar, Dr. P.S. Gill.
