On the call given by the Sanjha Mulazim Manch, the Punjab Government employees and pensioners will observe state wide strike on Thursday. The mass casual leave by the government employees will be observed in all government departments, affecting the routine working. The employees are demanding pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears and other government benefits.The clerical staff of all the leading government departments, including Deputy Commissioner office, Tehsil Offices, SDM offices, sewa kendras, water and sanitation, irrigation department, Municipal Corporation, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), Punjab Pollution Control Boards (PPCB), PUNBUS, Punjab Roadways etc will be on leave. The staff at their own level is appealing to the general public not to visit the government offices to avoid unnecessary harassment as no works will be done on Thursday.The staff has decided not to perform the SIR duties to show resentment towards the state government in adopting dallying approach in meeting their genuine demands.Amit Arora, the Additional General Secretary of Punjab State Ministerial Services Union Punjab, said that the organisations taking part in this bandh has no issue with the general public. “This is not to harass the public as we are not going to interfere anywhere except for the government departments. Our struggle is for government meeting our demands. A meeting is scheduled with the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann too, if it works well, the union will take a call accordingly. The work in government offices is certainly going to be affected in big way,” said Arora.The core demands of the union include the release of pending DA instalments with arrears, implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and regularisation of contractual workers.The call will cast shadow over the government offices, including sub magistrate offices, DC office, revenue offices, government schools and colleges, hospital OPDs etc. However, markets, private establishments, factories, private institutions will remain open.Swati Tiwana, SDM khanna said that departments are trying that work does not suffer, however, there will still be an impact.