Casual Labourers hold protest, demand regularization and implementation of Minimum Wages Act
Srinagar, Mar 2:A large number of casual labours/workers and daily wagers today held strong protest demonstration in support of their demands here today.
The casual workers from various Government departments under the banner of Jammu Kashmir Casual Labours United Front (Kashmir province) assembled in press enclave Srinagar on Wednesday and staged strong protest. They were shouting loud slogans in support of their demands. The workers were carrying banners and placards in their hands projecting their burning issues.
They demanded regularisation of all the casual labours and daily rated workers, release of their pending wages and implementation of Minimum Wages Act.
They pointed out that several workers died during service but their families were not compensated and no benefits were provided to them. There is no social security to these workers.
“The condition of workers is bad. Many workers have taken debt as they don’t have money to feed their families. We have been consistently protesting for our basic rights. We don’t know why J&K administration is taking so much of time to respond. We are not asking for anything illegal”’,one of the protestor said.
They pointed out that the workers are struggling since long but neither Governor nor LG’s Administration has provided any relief to them. The leaders of Kashmir also befooled them and took to the Governor and then LG but they are feeling cheated even today.
“We are not demanding anything new; we have been promised the same by the Governments that came to power, even the officials promised us and lately the LG of the UT. Even the Prime Minister said that the Minimum Wages Act and the Regularization policy will be implemented, however, one year has passed and nothing has been done so far in this direction,” another protestor said.
The protestors said that if the Government fails in fulfilling their demands, they will be forced to come out on the streets along with their families.
The labourers later tried to carry out a march towards Divisional commissioner office from the Press Enclave, however, police foiled their plan and arrested some individuals.
Over the years, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed frequent strikes by the workers against the successive governments which have failed to address their genuine demands. The workers have been appealing the administration to adopt a comprehensive job policy for regularisation of casual workers including daily wagers and casual labourers employed in various departments since 1994.
Most of the workers employed as casual labourers have completed 7 to 10 years of service and have yet not been promoted as permanent employees and their wages are sparse and infrequent.