The Chief Minister's Office of Punjab announced on Saturday, 30 May 2026 that the Punjab Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, has approved the regularisation of more than 65,000 contractual and outsourced employees and the abolition of the contractor system in the state. The cabinet decision, shared in Punjabi on the official CMO Punjab account, states: 'ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ @BhagwantMann ਦੀ ਅਗਵਾਈ ਹੇਠ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਕੈਬਨਿਟ ਦੀ ਮੀਟਿੰਗ ਦੌਰਾਨ 65,000 ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਕੱਚੇ ਅਤੇ ਆਊਟਸੋਰਸ ਮੁਲਾਜ਼ਮਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਪੱਕਾ ਕਰਨ ਅਤੇ ਠੇਕੇਦਾਰੀ ਸਿਸਟਮ ਖ਼ਤਮ ਕਰਨ ਨੂੰ ਮਨਜ਼ੂਰੀ ਦਿੱਤੀ' ['During the Punjab Cabinet meeting under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, approval was given to regularise more than 65,000 contractual and outsourced employees and to end the contractor system.']

Context

The cabinet also approved a specific provision for workers in high-risk occupations. Firemen, sewermen, and linemen — categories considered hazardous — will be eligible for regularisation after completing three years of service. This carve-out reflects sustained pressure from labour unions representing frontline municipal and utility workers across Punjab. The decision covers employees spread across multiple state departments and urban local bodies who have been engaged on contractual or outsourced terms, often for years, without the job security or service benefits accorded to regular government staff.

Policy Backdrop

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government under CM Bhagwant Mann came to power in March 2022 with an explicit commitment to phase out contractual hiring and bring long-serving employees into the regular fold. The regularisation drive is consistent with AAP's broader governance posture — pursued in both Punjab and Delhi — of converting casual and outsourced posts into permanent government positions to improve service conditions and reduce dependence on private contractors. Successive Punjab governments had accumulated a large contractual workforce over the years, partly to contain the wage bill and partly to fill vacancies without going through formal recruitment. This created a two-tier workforce in which employees doing identical work received unequal pay and benefits, generating repeated litigation and protests.

Stakeholders and Impact

The immediate beneficiaries are more than 65,000 workers currently employed on contractual or outsourced terms across state departments and municipalities. Regularisation typically entitles workers to fixed pay scales, provident fund contributions, gratuity, medical benefits, and protection against arbitrary dismissal. Contractor agencies and intermediaries who currently supply outsourced labour to government departments stand to lose business as the contractor system is wound down. Legal challenges from such interests, as well as questions around financial provisioning — particularly the incremental salary and pension liability the state exchequer will absorb — are likely to emerge in the coming months. For firemen, sewermen, and linemen, the three-year service threshold for regularisation addresses a long-standing safety and welfare concern: workers in physically dangerous roles had no guarantee of permanent employment even after years on the job.

What's Next

The cabinet approval is the policy-level green light; implementation will depend on department-wise rollout timelines and the financial provisioning built into the next Punjab state budget. The government will need to notify revised service rules, conduct service verification for eligible employees, and manage the transition away from contractor-mediated hiring. How swiftly departments absorb more than 65,000 workers into their regular cadres — and whether the exchequer can sustain the expanded wage bill — will determine whether this landmark decision translates into durable employment security for Punjab's contractual workforce.