Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, Oct 1: The talks between the State Government and Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) of State Government employees failed here this afternoon, forcing the JCC to resume agitation.
The JCC while accusing the State Government of forcing the employees to come out on streets and lodge protests in support of their demands, gave a call for Secretariat ‘Gherao’ on October 15.
Addressing a press conference here this evening, JCC leader Mohammad Khursheed Alam said that the State Government is just buying time and doing nothing to fulfill the demands of the Government employees. He alleged that the Government wants to break the unity of the Government employees which won’t be allowed.
“The employees of all the three regions of the State would march towards Srinagar on October 15 and “Gherao” the Civil Secretariat. Dharna would also be staged here and the demands would be raised vociferously. We would not sit back and it would be ensured that our demands are met by the State Government,” said Khursheed.
He said protests will be held at the district level on October 10 and memorandum would be presented to the respective deputy commissioners. He said the State Government has ditched the employees and accused it of resorting to time buying tactics.
“We met Chief Secretary, Madhav Lal today at about 12:30 PM. The meeting was disappointing as the Chief Secretary was narrating the progress of the files that have been prepared with respect to our demands. He also mentioned about the correspondence going on between the departments vis-à-vis our demands. No announcement whatsoever, was made with respect to the enhancement of retirement age, regularization of daily wagers, correction of pay anomalies and our other demands,” said Khursheed.
He said that the only little silver lining in today’s meeting was that the Chief Secretary told the JCC members that the Cabinet Sub-Committee formed to discuss the demands of enhancement of retirement age and regularization of daily wagers would meet on October 11. He said that the State Government has twice backtracked from the agreements made with the Government employees with regard to their demands.
“We had called off our agitation programme on July 8 as we were thinking that the State Government is serious in solving our issues. But as on date they are least concerned about the welfare of the Government employees and this has forced us to come out with a fresh spell of protest programme. There would be no strike on these days and the future course of action would be decided in the evening of October 15,” said Khursheed.
Sharing his views, JCC leader Abdul Qayoom Wani said that the Government should immediately fulfill the demands of the Government employees. He said mere lip service won’t do and the Government should issue written orders with respect to the demands raised by the employees.
“The Government has already entered into an agreement with the employees and now they are just wasting time. We would not give up on our demands since they are just quite attached to the emotions as well as sentiments of the employees. The Government wants us to start afresh the agitation programme and we would not hold back if our demands are not met peacefully,” said Qayoom.
JCC leader Mohammad Gafoor Dar said that whatever the employees have achieved it is all due to their struggle. He said the Government employees have resolved to take the struggle to its logical conclusion while ensuring that their demands are fulfilled by the Government.
“We were expecting the State Government to come out with a comprehensive and concrete policy with respect to our demands. That did not happen but we are not disappointed. The Government is in a quandary since the differences between coalition partners are out in open now. The Government is adopting anti-employee and anti-worker policy and this cannot be tolerated,” said Gafoor.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel