Warring urges Mann to clear Rs 14,191 crore DA dues, implement OPS

Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Wednesday urged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to immediately clear pending dearness allowance (DA) dues of government employees and implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), accusing the AAP government of unnecessarily prolonging both issues.

In a letter to Mann, Warring described the employees’ demand for pending DA as “legitimate and genuine” and claimed that around Rs 14,191 crore remained unpaid. He questioned the state government’s decision to challenge in the Supreme Court directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court concerning the payment of dues.

“Your government has actually gone to the Supreme Court against your own employees who are running your government on a day-to-day basis,” Warring said, arguing that government employees had played a crucial role in ensuring the smooth functioning of the administration.

Questions legal battle

The Congress leader alleged that the government was deliberately delaying payments despite knowing that employees would ultimately have to receive their dues. He claimed the Rs 14,191 crore liability was within Punjab’s financial capacity and accused the government of spending public money on advertisements and election campaigns outside the state.

“We all know and you also know that the employees will have to be paid their rightful due,” he said.

Warring further alleged that the government was “biding time” as its tenure moved closer to completion and intended to leave the financial burden for its successor.

He said the Congress would clear the pending DA dues immediately if it formed the next government in Punjab. “We will pay our employees their pending DA immediately after forming the government,” he said.

OPS implementation sought

Warring also questioned the delay in implementing the Old Pension Scheme. He said the AAP government had issued a notification announcing restoration of the OPS in November during the first year of its tenure but alleged that the scheme remained unimplemented nearly four years later.

The Congress leader claimed the government's approach towards the DA dispute had also raised questions over whether it intended to follow through on its OPS announcement.

“Given your stand on DA, it is certain that you are not going to implement the OPS,” Warring alleged, accusing the government of issuing the notification without subsequently translating it into implementation.

He said employees had become increasingly sceptical about government announcements when notifications were not followed by action.

Warring reiterated that a Congress government would both clear the pending DA dues and implement the Old Pension Scheme, making the two issues part of the party’s commitments to Punjab government employees.