‘2014 panel halted regularisation as Jammu outnumbered Kashmir’s workers’
Bivek Mathur
JAMMU, Mar 11: Opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) today blamed the National Conference (NC) for the current situation of the daily wagers, who have been hitting the streets, seeking regularization and redressal of their other demands, claiming the party has a “history of cheating, mistreatment, and committing fraud” with the community.
The BJP also blamed the NC Government of halting the regularization of a lesser number of daily wagers back in 2014 merely for the fact that Jammu outnumbered Kashmir’s strength of the daily wagers then.
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Addressing media persons after staging a walkout from the Legislative Assembly after the Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather didn’t allow a debate on the plight of the community, the Leader of Opposition in the House and MLA Paddar-Nagseni Assembly Constituency, Sunil Sharma, said that the recent protests of the daily wagers in Jammu and Srinagar, aimed at reminding NC leaders of their “broken promises”, tell a story of their history of mistreatment, abuse, lies, fraud and deceit with the community.
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“NC is the main culprit behind the injustices towards the daily wagers,” Sharma said.
He said, when the daily wagers were appointed initially by the NC and Congress Governments, they were paid meagre amounts of Rs 400, 600 and Rs 800 a month.
“However, LG Manoj Sinha provided the much-needed relief to this community by increasing their salary to Rs 9000 per month and Rs 300 per day,” he said.
Sharma said that NC had promised in their election manifesto to regularize daily wagers within the first year of their rule.
“But when the budget was presented, once again, they failed to fulfil their promise. No provision was made for the regularization of daily wagers, continuing the pattern of abuse, mistreatment, and even lathi charges, which we strongly condemn,” Sharma said.
“Our leaders demanded a debate on the matter, and the Speaker assured us that it would take place after the question hour. But under the direction of the CM, the Speaker reversed his decision, which was unfortunate. This is why we decided to boycott the proceedings of the House,” the MLA Paddar-Nagseni further said.
Senior BJP leader and MLA Jammu North Assembly segment, Sham Lal Sharma, blamed the NC of halting the regularization of a lesser number of daily wagers in 2014 merely for the fact that Jammu had more number of daily wagers to be regularized that year.
“This (daily wagers’) is a sensitive issue that requires more than just words. While the Chief Minister expressed sympathy for the daily wagers, there was no mention of their concerns in the UT’s vision document or the budget,” Sharma said.
He said he reminded the House about a committee formed in 2014, of which he was a member.
This committee, Sham Lal Sharma said, identified 61000 daily wagers across 47 departments to be regularized in total.
“I recommended that this committee, chaired by then Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, regularizes some 16071 daily wagers from Jammu and 7500 from the Kashmir region. But the NC leaders opposed it, merely for the fact that the number of daily wagers in Jammu (16071) was higher in Jammu region compared to Kashmir (7500),” Sharma alleged.
“Instead, this committee went ahead with increasing the retirement age of Government employees from 58 to 60 just to favour a few bureaucrats and trade union leaders who later contested elections on NC tickets,” Sharma alleged.
He said what was even more surprising was that 11000 daily wagers in Kashmir had been already regularized by then.
Without naming Abdul Rahim Rather and Taj Mohiuddin, he said, “Even more surprising was that then Finance Minister (Rather) and PHE Minister (Taj Mohiuddin) had regularized over 1600 daily wagers in their constituencies through a pick-and-choose policy, bypassing the rule of law.”
“But I took a firm stand against this. They gave me a handwritten list of 10,000 more daily wagers to be regularized in Kashmir. I still have that list. I objected, pointing out that 11,000 daily wagers had already been regularized in Kashmir, while none were regularized from Jammu. I highlighted that Jammu, with its larger area and hilly terrain, requires more manpower to supply water, whereas Kashmir has the advantage of gravity to distribute it more efficiently,” Sharma claimed.
He said he has/had always noticed the bias in the actions and rhetoric of the Valley-based parties, particularly the NC and PDP, with Congress not being any different.
“This is why I resigned from the Congress party,” Sharma said.
He said regularizing daily wagers is the Government’s responsibility, as they provide essential services, like water, to the people. This is their right.
He said NC had promised to regularize the daily wagers in their first cabinet meeting but that didn’t happen.
“They just continue to disrespect Maharaja Hari Singh and distort history. This cannot continue for long,” Sharma claimed.
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