Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 11: With ReTs made to agitate on the roads even for the timely disbursement of their salaries which the Govt is duty bound to ensure in the normal course, NPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh regretted that such episodes not only exposed the Govt’s apathy towards its employees but also raised question marks over its oft parroted slogans of accountability and good governance.
Addressing press conference here today, Singh said right to receive timely remuneration for the services rendered by an employee is one of the basic and fundamental guarantees ensured to a citizen in a welfare state, while denying the same was violative of the constitutional safeguards. Lambasting the State Govt for its callous and inhuman approach towards the genuine issues of the ReTs and Anganwari workers, Singh said that Panthers Party shall stand shoulder to shoulder with the aggrieved employees till all their legitimate demands were conceded by the Govt.
Strongly flaying the Govt for keeping the ReTs outside the purview of 7th Pay Commission recommendations, Harsh Dev regretted that ever since the BJP-PDP coalition came into being, the ReTs were being subjected to untold hardships, harassment and humiliation. They were threatened in the name of holding screening tests, written tests and aptitude tests as and when they agitated their cause for regular release of their salaries. He lamented that questions were raised in the present Govt over the procedure of their selections despite the fact that it was only the ReTs whose engagements were made in the most transparent manner by abolishing the interviews and making selections strictly on the basis of merit. He said that not only their demand for delinking of their salary from Central source of funding was overlooked but they were deprived of the benefits of the 7th Pay Commission.
Expressing grave concern over the Govt’s disregard for the issues of Anganwari workers and helpers, Singh said that NPP fully supported their demand for enhancement of honorarium. He said that engaging highly qualified workers and helpers in Anganwari Centres on negligible honorarium of Rs 3600 and Rs 1600 pm not only amounted to worst form of exploitation but was also a grave violation of human rights. He cautioned the Govt to stop testing their patience.
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