Chandigarh: Accusing Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit of acting under pressure from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has threatened to stage a ‘dharna’ against the former for withholding his assent to a bill for regularising 36,000 contractual employees.
Channi said that he along with his ministers had already met the Governor on the issue while the chief secretary had also visited him twice.
“But the Governor has stopped the file (relating to the bill) because of some political reasons,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that he and his ministers would meet the Governor once again on Monday.
“If he does not do it (clear the file) then it is politics. If we have to stage a 'dharna', we will do it but we have to regularise employees. A law has been framed,” Channi said addressing the media here on Saturday for giving the report card on 100 days of his regime, PTI reported.
“It is his responsibility to clear the file. Earlier, I thought he was busy somewhere. But as I have already met him and the CS (chief secretary) visited him, it is now politics because there is pressure from the BJP, he should not do politics,” he added.
Channi, who had earlier last month met the Governor and raised the issue of 12 bills, including the regularisation bills requiring his assent, said it was the question of the future of several employees who had been anxiously waiting for a day when their services would be regularised.
The Chief Minister’s remarks came as his government has been drawing flak, ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, for not being able to fulfill the promise of regularisation of the contractual employees.
Earlier in November last year, the state assembly had passed ‘the Punjab Protection and Regularization of Contractual Employees Bill-2021’ for regularising 36,000 employees working on contract or on ad hoc, temporary or daily basis in different government departments.