The Punjab Government has directed all administrative secretaries and heads of departments to issue show-cause notices to lakhs of employees who participated in the August 27 mass casual leave, one of the biggest protests by the state government employees in recent years.The employees will be asked to explain why disciplinary action should not be initiated against them for proceeding on “unauthorised leave” on August 27. The direction, issued today, comes at a time when employee unions are preparing to decide their next course of action at a meeting on Jattvibeday.Employee leaders see the government’s latest move as an attempt to put pressure on them and force them back to the negotiating table at a time when the unions are weighing the possibility of intensifying their agitation.The latest direction follows an earlier order of the Personnel Department asking all heads of departments to prepare lists of employees who had taken “unauthorised leave” on August 27.Nearly four lakh Punjab Government employees had proceeded on mass casual leave that day to press the Aam Aadmi Party-led government to release their pending dearness allowance (DA), restore the Old Pension Scheme and resolve a range of other long-standing service-related issues.The mass leave had been called by the Joint Action Committee of Employees and Pensioners and other employee organisations. The agitation was significant in scale, with the unions claiming participation of a large section of the government workforce across the state.The government’s decision to initiate action against the employees, however, has not gone down well with the unions. Employee leaders have warned that instead of deterring the workforce, the move could further harden their stand against the government.“The government cannot be doing both — sending officials to our residences with messages that they are ready to offer us 18 per cent DA and release the arrears in three annual instalments, and then threatening us with action,” said Sukhchain Khera, convener of Sanjha Mulazim Manch and a prominent employee leader.“We want to tell the government that we are not scared of it. We will continue to exercise our democratic right to protest,” he said.The unions are now scheduled to meet on Jattvibeday to decide their next course of action. The issuance of show-cause notices is expected to figure prominently in the deliberations, with employee leaders indicating that the government’s latest step could lead to further escalation rather than a resolution of the dispute.