Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 17: Clerical cadre employees of various Government departments and Public Sector Undertakings held strong protest demonstration and dharna near Press Club here and also at various district headquarters on the second day of their pen down strike.
On the call given by Jammu Kashmir Ladakh All Departments Clerical Staff Association, the employees under the leadership of Babu Hussain Malik, Bharat Bhushan, Ashok Singh, KA Diwani, Yash Paul Sharma, Javed Akhoon, Meenakshi Sharma, Seva Ram Rathore, Farida Bano and others assembled near Press Club and then started protest demonstration. They were carrying placards and also shouting slogans against State Government and in support of their demands. It was followed by day long dharna at the venue. Several senior trade union leaders also addressed the gathering.
With the strike of these employees, the normal work in many Government and Corporation offices was affected on the second day of the strike. Most of the employees of the clerical cadre stayed away from their offices and joined dharna at Press Club.
Babu Hussain Malik, Bharat Bhushan and others while addressing the gathering strongly criticized the State Government for befooling the employees and not honouring its commitment. He said the Government had also framed a Committee for the purpose and gave its recommendations but the Government ignored. They said the Association would intensify its agitation in near future. They appealed to the employees to support the common cause and make the programme a grand success.
The main demands of these agitating employees are- removal of anomalies in the pay grades of clerical cadre employees, reorganization of the cadre, conduct of DPC twice a year, enhancement of Medical allowance of the employees and pensioners and implementation of 7th Pay Commission report.
The trade union leaders appealed to the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Dy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh to personally intervene into the matter and address the long pending issues of the clerical cadre employees. They also declared to observe three day pen down strike on December 8, 9 and 10 and also conduct Gherao of the Civil Secretariat here. Similar protest dharnas were held at various district headquarters including Doda, Rajouri, Kathua and Udhampur.
The other prominent trade unionists present included Vishav Bandhu, Jaswant Singh, Arun Sharma, Lekh Raj, Vikas Chander, Munish Sharma, Ansuya Gupta, Vikas Sharma, Kapil Gupta, Om Parkash, B B Kotwal, Sandeep Singh, Naresh Sharma and Udhay Singh Pathania.
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