Jammu: Hundreds of daily wage employees of the Jal Shakti Department staged a protest here on Thursday, demanding that the government make public the report of the committee formed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the regularisation of their services.
The PHE Employees United Front, Jammu, urged the chief minister to table the committee’s report in the ongoing Assembly session and warned of an intensified agitation on October 27 if their demand is ignored.
The protesters, who have been seeking regularisation for over two decades, gathered outside the Jal Shakti office on the first day of the autumn session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, raising slogans of “We want justice.” They also demanded the implementation of the Minimum Wages Act.
“We have been protesting for more than 1,200 days, yet the government has not fulfilled its commitment to regularise daily wagers. On the first day of the Assembly session, we want to remind the government of its promise and seek clarity on the committee report,” said Ravi Hans, leader of the PHE Employees United Front (Jammu Province).
Hans said the committee was constituted by the chief minister during the previous Assembly session and was given six months to submit its report by September 19. “However, till now, there has been no word on its status,” he added.
The union has demanded that the report be tabled during the current session, failing which it would launch a more aggressive protest on October 27.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had constituted a six-member committee on March 19 to examine issues related to the regularisation of daily wage workers across the Union Territory.
Headed by the chief secretary, the panel was tasked with studying humanitarian, legal, and financial aspects of regularising casual, seasonal, and other categories of workers and suggesting a viable roadmap.
There are an estimated 67,000 daily wage workers employed in various government departments across Jammu and Kashmir.
