Casual laborers, daily wagers stage protest in Srinagar
By: Muzamil Bhat CK
Srinagar
On Wednesday police bundled the large number of casual laborers and daily wage workers in their vehicles from the press enclave of Srinagar as they were protesting in support of their demands.
Before being taken away by police they told the media that the government should implement the minimum wages act as they have been suffering for years without getting any justice.
According to CNS reporting about the protest by these daily wagers it said in its news report on Wednesday as follows.
The casual workers from various Government departments under the banner of Jammu Kashmir Casual Labors United Front (Kashmir province) assembled in press enclave Srinagar on Wednesday and staged a 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 regularization of all the casual laborers 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 the J & K administration is taking so much time to respond. We are not asking for anything illegal” one of the protesters said.
They pointed out that the workers have been struggling for a long time but neither the Governor nor LG’s Administration has provided any relief to them. The leaders of Kashmir also fooled 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 laborers later tried to carry out a march towards the 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 regularization of casual workers including daily wagers and casual laborers employed in various departments since 1994. Most of the workers employed as casual laborers have completed 7 to 10 years of service and have yet not been promoted as permanent employees and their wages are sparse and infrequent.
With CNS inputs
