Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Feb 3: Jal Shakti PHE Employees and Workers Association today held an important meeting at the PHE Complex, Udhampur, under the chairmanship of district president Som Nath.
The meeting focused on the long-pending issues of daily wagers, which the association said continue to remain unresolved despite repeated agitations and assurances by successive governments.
Addressing the gathering, Som Nath expressed concern over what he termed the “continued apathy” of the UT administration towards daily wagers. He said that workers had pinned high hopes on the present elected government, but no concrete steps had been taken so far to address their genuine demands.
He pointed out that daily wagers have been forced to resort to protests, rallies and agitations for years, yet the Government has remained silent, making only verbal commitments. He appealed to the UT Government and opposition MLAs to raise and support the issues of daily wagers during the ongoing Assembly session.
It was informed that a detailed report highlighting the workers’ demands has already been submitted to the Chief Minister, and the association demanded that the CM place the report on the floor of the Assembly, terming it his constitutional responsibility.
Key demands highlighted in the meeting included immediate regularization of CP, ITI and land case workers who have completed seven years of service under SRO-64, framing of a fresh policy for regularization, and completion of all pending service records to avoid delays in wage disbursement. The Association also demanded the release of pending wages for the period 2014-2020, amounting to 65-70 months, along with interest, including dues of retired workers.
The speakers strongly raised the issue of minimum wages, alleging discrimination against Jammu, where daily wagers are being paid as low as Rs 311 per day, and demanded parity with enhanced rates implemented in other UTs.
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