Issue three-day ultimatum
Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 7: Employees of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) today staged a protest here against the non-payment of their salaries for nearly four months, warning of a complete work stoppage if their dues are not cleared within three days.
Scores of employees assembled near the SMC office, raising slogans and accusing the authorities of ignoring their long-pending demands, particularly the delay in salary disbursement and regularisation of workers.
Chairman of the SMC Workers Welfare Association, Muhammad Ramzan, said that employees have not received their salaries for the past four months, except for one month’s payment released in November.
“We have been without salaries for the last four months. Despite the harsh winter, supervisory staff and all workers are working day and night. The Finance Department is delaying the release of our salaries,” he said.
Highlighting the financial distress faced by employees, Ramzan said the delay has pushed many families to the brink.
“Schools are set to reopen and we do not have money to pay fees. We are struggling to buy ration. Many workers have nothing to eat. We were forced to come out on the roads,” he said.
He warned that employees would stop work if their demands were not met within three days.
“We are giving a three-day ultimatum to the Government. If salaries are not released, we will stop working, and the Government will be responsible for the consequences,” he added.
The protesting employees also raised the issue of long-pending regularisation of workers, many of whom, they said, have been serving for the last 17 years across various posts.
Ramzan said the SMC Commissioner has forwarded a list of such workers for notification, but the file has been pending clearance at higher levels.
President of the SMC Workers Welfare Association, Nazir Ahmad Ahangar, said repeated assurances by the authorities had failed to translate into action.
“We are dying of hunger, yet the authorities are unmoved. How are we supposed to feed our families? If we cannot take care of our families, what is the purpose of our employment?” Ahangar asked, alleging that the administration was resorting to delaying tactics.
He also demanded implementation of the ‘one man, one post’ policy based on seniority and withdrawal of additional charges being assigned to employees.
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