chandigarh at a time when the government is all set to get into the election mode employee organizations and pressure groups have started making efforts to get their demands addressed ahead of the imposition of the model code of conduct for the polls various bodies of employees are camping at panchkula and karnaleight such employees organizations are camping in panchkula and a group of guest teachers in karnal at the district headquarters rural watchmen are on strike the groups on strike include public works department pwd workers union pwd appointees union netraheen sangh an association of visuallyimpaired employees and jbt teachers waiting appointmentsamong others who have opened a front against the government include 1500 information officers and library managers they are the employees who manage information technology it activities of the school education directorate and in schools they are demanding pay commensurate with their service conditions they have been working on a salary of rs 22000 per month for the past six years as these staffers are on mass leave the work of online transfers in the education department has come to standstillgurnam soni a leader of information officers and library managers said they had helped the government detect 4 lakh fake admissions in schools which saved rs 250 crore every year all we are asking for is adequate remuneration we have undergone a rigorous recruitment process and are handling most sensitive works he said soni and his team are camping in the sector 5 ground in panchkulaa group of nearly 550 sanskrit teachers is also protesting to get their appointment letters we have completed the selection process since january and even the counselling has been done but we have still not been given appointment letters and posting is this a transparent and employeefriendly government quipped narendra kaushik president of the sanskrit teachers unionanother group of employees camping in the same ground is of computer teachers and lab attendants they are demanding merger of their cadre with the education department as promised by education minister ram bilas sharma and chief minister manohar lal khattar about three years ago they were appointed on contractual basis during the regime of bhupinder singh hoodaled congress governmenton friday the education department announced to extend their contract till june 2020 but the union has rejected the offer this order is a cruel joke on our fraternity this assurance of merging us with the education department had come from none other than the cm and his principal secretary rajesh kumar khullar said suresh nain a spokesperson of the unionwhen contacted sarv karamchari sangh president subhash lamba said the strikes were a result of the state governments performance they are employees and would never resort to strike until provoked in fact in most cases officers close to the cm and those in power are to be blamed they create confusion and take antiemployee decisions he saidwe are 350 lakh employees in the state you name any department and you will find employees on protest after the model