Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Monday distributed appointment letters to 516 Forest Department employees after regularising their services at a function held at Vikas Bhawan, Phase 8, Mohali.
The employees include drivers, beldars and other daily-wage workers, many of whom had been serving on a temporary basis for 20 to 25 years. Those regularised comprise 464 men and 52 women from 18 districts across Punjab.
According to the government, nine employees were granted age relaxation, 439 received educational qualification relaxation, while 58 were given both age and educational relaxations to become eligible for regularisation.
Addressing the gathering, Mann congratulated the employees and said his decisions were always aimed at the welfare of Punjab. He announced that the state government would gradually abolish the contractual and outsourcing system, bringing employees directly under the government.
The Chief Minister said the move would provide workers with better salaries, leave benefits and job security. He added that the process of regularising employees in other departments is also underway and that the government is working to resolve legal hurdles delaying the process.
Mann also announced that 237 long-pending promotions of Forest Department employees and officers have been cleared.
