Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Oct 28: Up in arms against termination of their colleagues and unequal wages to locals, the construction workers of Leighton Company, engaged in construction of Chenani-Nashri tunnel, are on indefinite strike for the last three days.
The striking workers held a rally at both the construction sites of Nashri and Chenani and raised anti-company and anti-Labour Department slogans for non-implementation of equal wages for equal work by the Leighton, which is working as a contractor for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The workers came out of the tunnel work site and held massive demonstration in support of their demands.
As a result of the ongoing strike, the work on the tunnel project sites on both sides of the tube remained suspended since yesterday morning. The work was also disrupted yesterday and day before when the management of the company refused to rescind termination of about nine workers from Chenani and Nashri project sites.
The termination was reportedly ordered by the company after the workers demanded equal wages at par with skilled and unskilled workers engaged by the company from outside the State.
The union leaders Arshad Malik and Rashid Malik alleged that the company was discriminating against the local workers so far as regular payment of their wages was concerned. They alleged that the local workers engaged by the company were being paid 40 to 50 percent less wages compared to their counterparts from outside the State.
The trade union leaders also demanded implementation of the agreement reached with construction workers union and the management in the presence of Labour Departments and Deputy Commissioners of Udhampur and Ramban for payment of wages fixed by the NHAI besides insurance cover and risk allowance.
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