Chandigarh/Ludhiana, Aug. 31 -- Stepping up confrontation with the Punjab government, the protesting staff, under the banner of "Punjab Sanjha Mulazim Manch" (Joint Employees' Forum), on Sunday decided to go on mass leave on September 8 if notices issued to them over the August 27 strike are not withdrawn. The move followed a meeting of different unions in Ludhiana to decide the next course of action. After a three-hour discussion, the Joint Coordination Committee of government employees unveiled an elaborate road map for escalated agitation, including another mass casual leave on October 21 and 22. "The government's inability to address the demands of employees, pensioners and honorarium workers has left them with no option but to intensify the agitation," said Hardeep Todarpur, spokesperson of the employee unions. On Saturday, the Punjab government had directed all administrative secretaries and department heads to issue show-cause notices and initiate strict action under applicable service rules against staff found absent from duty without authorisation on August 27 to protest against the state government. This followed an earlier directive issued by the department of personnel on August 27, ordering all special chief secretaries, additional chief secretaries, financial commissioners, principal secretaries and administrative secretaries to share the list of absentees with the department of general administration. Over 150 employees' bodies, under the banner of Punjab Sanjha Mulazim Manch, had joined hands for the "maha hartal" on August 27 to press the state government to accept their long-pending demands. The shutdown had paralysed state administrative machinery as roughly 4 lakh staff took leave, backed by 3.5 lakh pensioners protesting at district, sub-divisional and block offices. The same day, the Joint Coordination Committee of the government employees was called to Jalandhar for talks with chief minister Bhagwant Mann, but the latter refused to give an audience, posting on X that while staff are part of the state's family, "dialogue and strikes cannot proceed together", escalating tensions. The employees are pushing for the release of an 18% dearness allowance backlog, the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, and the regularisation of contractual workers. They are also seeking implementation of minimum wages for mid-day meal, ASHA and Anganwadi workers, restoration of the Assured Career Progression (ACP) scheme and extension of Punjab pay scales to employees recruited after July 17, 2020....