Ludhiana: Local authorities have moved to freeze the salaries of dozens of striking government schoolteachers who failed to report for national census duty, threatening to lock them out of their classrooms as well. The Ludhiana municipal corporation has asked the district education officer (DEO) to take quick disciplinary action against 80 education department employees who skipped the launch of the national population count. The high-stakes house-listing phase began on May 15 and is scheduled to run through June 13.
In a formal directive sent to both elementary and secondary education directors, the civic body recommended that the defiant teachers be marked absent on their official school registers and have their pay suspended. Under the proposed penalties, salaries will remain frozen until the workers secure a formal no-objection certificate (NOC) from their designated census supervisors.
“The census is a critical, time-bound national mandate,” a senior municipal official said. “Any continued negligence will trigger severe departmental penalties, and school principals will be held accountable personally alongside their absent staff.” The escalation follows several ignored warnings. While authorities earlier issued individual compliance notices, a faction of the education workforce refused to deploy to their field assignments.
Officials reiterated that participation in the national census is legally compulsory for government servants, warning that the grace period for holdouts has expired. The municipal corporation has also threatened to lock out the striking teachers from their classrooms if they continue to defy orders. The move is seen as a stern measure to ensure the smooth conduct of the census, which is a critical exercise for national planning and resource allocation.
The affected teachers are expected to face additional departmental proceedings if they do not comply immediately. The DEO has been directed to submit a compliance report within a week. Meanwhile, the teachers' unions have expressed outrage, claiming that the census duty was imposed without proper consultation and that the workload is excessive. However, authorities remain firm, stating that no further extensions will be granted.
