Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 7: All Daily Wagers Jammu and Kashmir Sangharsh Samiti today staged a protest outside the Press Club Jammu in support of the Mali-cum-Chowkidars working in the Rural Development Department (RDD), demanding justice for them.
Raising slogans against the administration, the protesters highlighted the difficulties being faced by the workers who, according to them, have been serving the department for decades without receiving proper wages or benefits.
Addressing the gathering, Samiti president Sunny Kant Chib alleged that the Mali-cum-Chowkidars of Rural Development Department have been suffering for a long time due to the alleged neglect of the authorities. He claimed that despite working for years in the department, the workers have not been brought under any proper payment or attendance system. Click here to watch video
Chib further alleged that no biometric attendance system has been implemented for the employees in the department, which, he said, has resulted in continued exploitation.
He stated that many of the Mali-cum-Chowkidars have been working for nearly 22 years and have not been paid their wages. “The Government had taken their land and has been taking work from them for the past two decades, but they are still deprived of their rightful wages,” he said.
Highlighting the hardships faced by the workers, Chib said that their families and children have suffered the most due to the financial uncertainty and lack of stable income. Demanding immediate intervention from the Union Territory Government, he urged the authorities to that they are paid in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act.
He also issued a final ultimatum to the Government to implement the Minimum Wages Act in J&K and address the grievances of the Mali-cum-Chowkidars before March 31. Failing this, he warned, the workers would intensify their agitation across both provinces of the Union Territory after April 2.
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