Jalandhar: A delegation of office employees met with Cabinet Minister Mohinder Bhagat on Saturday and submitted a memorandum demanding the withdrawal of a monthly salary deduction of ₹31,000. The employees have been working in the Education Department for nearly 20 years. During the meeting, the delegation urged the minister to raise the issue in tomorrow’s cabinet meeting. Bhagat assured them that he would raise the matter with the Chief Minister. The employees said that in 2018, the government regularized 8,886 teachers in the Education Department, but office employees were excluded from this decision. Addressing the press, leaders of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Mid-Day Meal Office Employees Union said that if the department does not withdraw the salary deduction and tries to enforce the order, the employees will go on strike at any time. They announced that the office employees will go on mass leave on February 25th in protest against this decision and will gather in Sangrur before marching to the Chief Minister’s residence. The leaders also warned that if the orders were not withdrawn, protests would intensify, including demonstrations outside ministers’ homes. The employees further stated that in a cabinet meeting held on September 8, 2025, under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Education Minister Harjot Bains directed officials not to reduce salaries and to take a firm decision. However, they alleged that Education Department officials ignored these instructions. They further stated that a meeting was also held with the School Education Secretary on October 10, 2025, where the issue of regularizing employees like teachers and ensuring that salaries would not be reduced was discussed from April 1, 2018. A written representation was submitted, but even five months later, the matter remains unresolved.
Jalandhar: Education department employees threaten strike over Rs 31,000 pay cut
