Ahmedabad, September 25: Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday promised to make contractual employees permanent and implement 'equal work, equal pay' if his party is voted to power in Gujarat.

Addressing a town hall with outsourced and contractual employees, Kejriwal also said his party will end the contract system if voted to power so that money comes directly into the bank account of the employees without middlemen taking away anything. Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022: AAP Releases First List of 10 Candidates for Gujarat Polls.

Assembly polls are likely to be held in December in Gujarat, where the Bharatiya Janata Party has been ruling for the past 27 years. "I can see that every government is slowly ending government jobs. They say they (contract workers) do not work when they are made permanent. It is wrong to say that a government employee does not work if he is made permanent. He works if he is given respect and full salary," Kejriwal said.

"If we form a government, all contractual employees will be made permanent. And we will do so properly so that the court does not grant a stay later on," Kejriwal said.

With Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann by his side, Kejriwal said there are 36,000 contractual employees in Punjab who will be made permanent. He has made 8,500 teachers permanent. It is taking time in order to ensure there is no court stay after they are made permanent, Kejriwal added.

"We will also implement 'equal work, equal pay.' There is not much cost in implementing it. Their (state government) intention is not right. We are the party of the poor and deprived and we understand your problem. We will give you respect and full salary," he said.

He said an AAP government in the state will end the contractor system, adding that contractual employees, till they are regularised, will get salaries directly in bank accounts so that the contractor does not take away some portion as commission.

Government jobs will be given on merit without any system of recommendation, he added. The Delhi CM said contractual employees will also benefit of free power up to 300 units as well as healthcare from a network of 20,000 mohalla clinics, while women will get Rs 1,000 per month.

Speaking on the occasion, Punjab CM Mann said his government had done what other dispensations had failed to do in 70 years, adding that contractual employees in the northern state were gradually getting regularised.

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