Preparations complete for a protest against the privatization of street lighting on September 23, 2026, in front of the Municipal Corporation office in Sector 17, following the Federation's executive committee meeting.

Preparations complete for a protest against the privatization of street lighting on September 23, 2026, in front of the Municipal Corporation office in Sector 17, following the Federation's executive committee meeting.

Chandigarh 18 September ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : A meeting of the executive committee of the Federation of UT Employees and Workers, Chandigarh, was held today in Sector 18 under the chairmanship of Federation President Rajendra Katoch. Representatives from various unions—including those for electricity, water supply, roads, horticulture, health, MC Electrical, MC Manimajra, Sampark, Anganwadi, and Crèche workers—participated in the meeting.While presenting a resolution, Federation General Secretary Harkesh Chand noted that the 'Minutes of the Meeting' regarding 17 demands—agreed upon with the Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation on August 13, 2026—were reviewed. It was observed that officials are still adopting a lackadaisical attitude toward most of the accepted demands. The promised 2% additional DC rate has not yet been implemented, and outstanding salary arrears have not been released to employees. Furthermore, the DC rates for electricians and horticulture supervisors have not been increased, and no proposal has been sent to the administration to raise the ESI coverage limit. Pension and other benefits for retired personnel remain unpaid, and retrenched Public Health workers have not yet been reinstated. 

No proposal regarding the regularization of employees or the principle of "equal pay for equal work" has been forwarded to the administration. Federation President Gopal Dutt Joshi took strong exception to the fact that, despite assurances given during the August 13 meeting with the Chief Engineer against the privatization of street lighting, the proposal is being rapidly implemented—a highly unfortunate decision. He stated that the Corporation is making employees scapegoats for its own shortcomings by pursuing privatization and is once again hanging the sword of retrenchment over the staff—an action that will not be tolerated under any circumstances. 

Representatives of all the unions participating in the meeting presented reports detailing their preparations for the protest scheduled for September 23; they unanimously decided to participate in large numbers in the sit-in protest against the privatization of street lighting. The meeting also included discussions on the decisions taken during the All India State Government Employees Federation meeting held in Srinagar on September 12–13, as well as the memorandum submitted by the Federation to the Chairperson of the 8th Pay Commission. Furthermore, a resolution was passed strongly condemning the suspension of Hoora Bano, a member of the Federation's Women's Sub-committee and a leader of the Jammu & Kashmir employees.