Vet inspectors to hold protest in front of CM’s residence in Jalandhar

Gurdaspur, July 6

Members of the Punjab State Veterinary Inspectors’ Association (PSVIA) have decided to stage a protest in front of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s temporary residence in Jalandhar against the non-implementation of their long-pending demands.

The CM has shifted his residence to Jalandhar keeping in view the by-election to the Jalandhar (West) assembly seat.

In a press note, PSVAI president (Punjab unit) Gurdeep Singh Bassi said the Inspector cadre was the backbone of the Animal Husbandry Department. He said despite the fact that the association had submitted numerous memorandums to the state government, no action has been taken yet on them. “On several occasions in the last one year or so, we have requested the state government to remove the pay anomalies existing in our department, regularise ad-hoc employees, properly implement pay scales of veterinary inspectors and shift 582 posts of veterinary inspector from the Zila Parishad to the Animal Husbandry Department. These posts were transferred to the Zila Parishads in 2009.

Bassi added that the employees of the Punjab Government had voted en-masse in favour of the AAP party because its leaders had been claiming that it was an employee-friendly party. “However, the AAP-led state government has done nothing to mitigate the employees’ sufferings. We will continue our protests till our demands are met. Though all our demands are genuine, we fail to understand what stops the Punjab Government from implementing them,” said Kishan Chander Mahajan, ex-press secretary of the PSVIA.