Casual labourers stage protest, demand regularization of jobs

Casual labourers of various departments during a protest demonstration at Jammu. -Excelsior/Rakesh
Casual labourers of various departments during a protest demonstration at Jammu. -Excelsior/Rakesh

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 10: The casual labourers of various departments of the J&K Government today held a protest demonstration in support of their pending demands near Press Club, Jammu.
A large number of casual labourers, under the banner of Jammu and Kashmir Casual Labourers United Front (JKCLUF) led by its president Pawan Kumar, Lucky Chidda, Mohd Shabir and Manmohan Sharma assembled late this morning near Press Club Jammu and started raising slogans in support of their demands.
The protesting workers said the UT administration has miserably failed to uphold the commitment made with 61000 casual labourers of all the departments despite assurances on the floor of the House. The protesting workers were demanding regularization of their services, implementation of Minimum Wages Act in J&K and release of pending wages of all casual labourers.
They pointed out that after the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several BJP leaders had claimed that massive benefits will be given to the people of the J&K and justice will be done to the temporary workers by implementation of Minimum Wages Act and regularization of all temporary workers but nothing such thing happened.
“Even the Minimum Wages Act in J&K UT was not implemented and pending wages of the workers were also not released,” they said and demanded that their genuine and justified demands be addressed without any delay. They warned to intensify their agitation if the UT Administration failed to address their pending issues. Several district presidents also addressed the gathering.