Chandigarh, Aug. 27 -- More than 3 lakh employees of Punjab government departments, boards and corporations will observe a mass casual leave on Thursday to protest the non-payment of pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears and several other long-standing demands.

More than 4 lakh pensioners are also expected to join the agitation and stage sit-ins at government offices at the district, tehsil and block levels.

Various employee unions spearheading the protest have appealed to government employees across Punjab to take casual leave and hold demonstrations outside their respective offices.

The proposed agitation is expected to disrupt several government services across the state, with employees of the health and transport departments also...