Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 30: Scores of Contingent Paid Workers and Cooks working with the Education Department today protested here and demanded regularization of their services.
The protesting workers assembled at the Press Enclave and demanded that they should be included in the recent list of 60,000 casual workers who were regularised. The workers appealed the Minister for Education, Altaf Bukhari, to fulfill their demands.
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The protesters said they were working as sweepers, guards and cooks in different Government schools across Kashmir. They, however, blamed the Government for plunging their families into starvation by paying them meager salaries.
“I am working as a sweeper in a government school at Pattan for last several years. I get Rs 25 per month as a salary from the department. Only I know how I feed my family. What would a person get from Rs.25? Even beggars earn more money than that,” Abdul Rasheed, a worker said, adding the workers have suffered a lot and it was high time to recognize their services.
The protesters appealed Education Minister to regularize them under the SRO 520 regularization policy.
They added that despite all odds they have been discharging the duties in schools on a meager monthly salaries. “During the 2016 unrest, it were we who guarded the schools. Government is making fun of our contribution by excluding us from the regularisation policy,” said an elderly protester.
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