Employees have announced go on a two-day mass leave on October 21 and 22 to protest the state government’s failure to fulfil their demands.The announcement was made at a state-level rally organised by the Punjab Employees and Pensioners Joint Front and the Joint Coordination Committee of Employees Manch, Punjab, in Sangrur on Saturday.Thousands of employees, pensioners and honorarium-based workers, including mid-day meal, ASHA and Anganwadi workers, participated in the rally and later blocked the Patiala-Bathinda National Highway.The protesters rejected an offer by the civil administration to arrange a meeting with the Chief Secretary, insisting that they would meet only Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to discuss their demands.The leaders said the government had failed to fulfil its September 18 assurance that another meeting would be held in the first week of October to resolve their issues.Their prominent demands include the release of pending dearness allowance installments and arrears, restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, regularisation of contractual and outsourced employees, minimum wages for honorarium-based workers and implementation of the 2.59 multiplication factor for pensioners and employees in unrevised categories.They also demanded the restoration of 37 categories of allowances and the Assured Career Progression (ACP) scheme, full salaries during probation, Punjab pay scales for employees recruited after July 17, 2020, and the inclusion of computer teachers in the Education Department.The leaders alleged that the government had created an impression that employees’ issues had been resolved by announcing an 8 per cent increase in dearness allowance whereas their demands remained unfulfilled. They also accused the Chief Secretary of making a false statement before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.The protesters warned that the agitation would intensify if the government failed to address their demands. Besides the mass leave on October 21 and 22, they announced further protests during the Assembly session scheduled from October 22 to 27.