Punjab Civil Services Retirees Assn. calls upon Govt. to immediately pay 18% of DA to pensioners

Mohali : After nearly four and a half years of the Aam Aadmi Party government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann coming to power by promising to immediately resolve the legitimate and future demands of pensioners and employees, all pensioners and employees of Punjab are forced to face hurdles at every step toget their demands resolved told the  agitated  retired officers  to media  today.

Shyam Lal Sharma, President of Punjab Civil Secretariat Retired Officers Association, addressing  a press conference at Mohali Press Club  informed   that at present, pensioners of the Punjab government are getting 18 percent less DA,   than  the  pensioners/employees of the Centre and other  neighboring states. The Punjab  government has not yet released 18% DA of pensioners from  July 01, .2023 to January 01, 2026. He expressed regret and said that today the situation has become so bad that the pensioners have also received the pension for the month of April from the state government on 7th May, while most of the pensioners are still waiting  for the pension. He also added   that the pensioners should not be forced to give digital life certificates. It was informed that over 10 lakh pensioners  and over 35 family members are affected by the Govts’  denial of  DA arrears. 

President  SL  Sharma further informed that Punjab & Haryana  High Court had issued an interim order dated April 08, 2026 that the up-to-date DA should be given to the pensioners, family pensioners and employees of the Punjab Government before 30th June 2026. But  on Punjab Govt appeal   held on 5th May 2026,  the Hon’ble Court, the Court categorically refused to stay this decision and upheld the decision. Now the next hearing of this case is on 25th May 2026. On the other hand, the Punjab government is making false statements about paying Rs 14,000 crore to pensioners/employees but the government has not been able to explain the amount paid so far. He said that the government’s term is ending in February 2027. It is deliberately delaying this issue and is working on a policy of delay and is not implementing the old pension scheme (OPS). They called upon Finance Minister Cheema to  release their pensions and arears, instead of  going in appeals to Courts.

In response to a question,  calling  the Punjab government’s 10 lakh Health Insurance Scheme a complete fraud for pensioners living outside Punjab including Chandigarh. He said that pensioners of Punjab   who retired after serving for 30 to 40 years have been deprived of this scheme, which is completely unfair on the excvuse of their  Residence being outside Punjab.

Finally, all the leaders of the association warned the Aam Aadmi Party’s Bhagwant  Mann government in Punjab that if the demands of pensioners and employees are not resolved immediately, it will have to face the consequences in the upcoming 2027 assembly elections.

On this occasion,  Sarvshree  Manohar Singh Makkar, Amarjit Singh Walia, Uma Kant Tiwari, Sukhdev Singh, Asha Sood, Chandra Surekha, Jaswinder Kaur Batra, Avtar Singh Jodka, Krishan Pal Sharma, Raj Kumar Kalia, Jaspal Kaur, Surjit Kaur, Gurdeep Kaur, Dhanna Singh, Sanmukh Singh and Satnam Kaur . were present at this meeting.