Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 26: J&K Cement employees have appealed the LG Manoj Sinha to intervene personally into the present state of affairs of J&K Cements Limited to save the serving employees from starvation.
In a letter addressed to the LG, J&K Cement Employees Association (JKCEA) apprised him that J&K cements Limited having two cement manufacturing plants of 600 TPD each at Khrew Pulwama and 300 TPD at Samba respectively, are non-operational since July 2019 due to mounting liabilities of Rs 340 crore which is further increasing with every passing day and lack of working capital to purchase raw material/spares, etc.
The Association said that the company has incurred heavy production losses continuously from last seven years due to various reasons and the main reason being high consumption of coal & power and deputing managing directors from other Corporations on pick and choose policy by the Administrative Department as they lacked cement expertise/experience.
It was alleged that the CP Fund of the employees which stands deducted from their salaries for last five years has not been deposited in the accounts of employees for no fault of theirs. The Association further said that the salary of employee for last 18 months has not been disbursed despite the fact that they attend their duties regularly.
“The employees of the company who retired from the services have not been paid terminal benefits which amounts to Rs 16 crore. Both retired and serving employees are on the verge of starvation due to non-payment of dues. They are not able to meet even daily expenditures viz. ration, medicine and children’s school fee,” the Association said.
The Association said that the employees have no objection if the Government adopts schemes like GHS and VRS for the employees of the company, enabling them to apply for the same. The Association hoped that the LG will take a final and durable decision which will be beneficial for both government as well as employees of the company.
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