The ongoing agitation being led by the state’s government employees demanding payment of Dearness Allowance instalments and restoration of the Old Pension Scheme continued on Thursday with a “maha hartal” as planned talks with CM Bhagwant Mann were called off.A meeting between a 16-member panel of the employees’ Joint Action Committee and the CM was scheduled to take place at the Punjab Armed Police headquarters at 1 pm. Mann was at the facility to distribute appointment letters to the new police recruits.Employees led by Gurnam Singh Virk were reportedly made to wait for over three hours but were not given a hearing with the CM. The employees, who had gathered in large numbers at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, announced their decision to intensify the agitation.Government Teachers’ Association president Navpreet Singh called on the employees to march to the BMC Chowk and block traffic till the CM agreed for talks.Heavy barricading was put in place to stop the protesting employees from leaving the complex. The protesters, however, used alternate gates to exit the complex, with many of them even scaling the building’s walls. Anti-riot police were called in and police buses remained parked along the passage to stop them.The CM, meanwhile, was escorted from PAP to his official residence in Old Baradari under tight security.Later, the Joint Action Committee members reached the DC office and held a meeting, following which fresh protests were announced for August 28 and 29. Virk announced that the next course of action would be decided on August 30 after a meeting in Ludhiana.The committee members, including Satish Rana, said the employees would give the Aam Aadmi Party a befitting reply for their stance in the Assembly elections. “The CM tried to humiliate us by choosing not to meet us despite giving us time. He put out a post when the maha hartal was already on. The government will have to bear the brunt of his mistreatment,” he said.