Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Jan 15: Entire fleet of State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) went to halt today as over 4000 workers of the Corporation went on one day token strike in the State to lodge their protest against failure of Government to settle pending demands of the employees and workers.
All the buses plying on State and the inter-state routes remained off the roads and the trucks and other vehicles deployed for officers also could not ply in response to the total `Chakka Jam’ strike announced by J&K SRTC Workers Union under the leadership of Shakeel Ahmed Kuchay, Ashok Mehra and Parmajeet Singh.
The employees in large number assembled at Bikram Chowk office of General Manager Operations SRTC and held strong protest demonstration. At around 12 noon they started protest march towards Managing Director’s office at Rail Head Complex. Then they held day long protest dharna there. The protesters were carrying banners and placards depicting their demands.
The protesting employees demanded all benefits under 6th Pay Commission, social security (pension), implementation of SRO 43 and benefits on Himachal SRTC pattern as promised by Government.
Mr Kuchay said Chief Minister had promised during 100-day agitation that the demands of the employees will be fulfilled on the pattern of Himachal Pradesh (HP-SRTC), but nothing happened till date. Several other leaders including Mr Mehra and Paramjeet also addressed gathering. They said breathing time has been given to the management and if they failed to act, three day strike will be started from January 23.
In Srinagar the employees gathered at Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) and held demonstration. They demanded that all the benfits be provided on the pattern of HP-SRTC. Later, they took out procession to Divisional Commissioner’s office and submitted their memorandum, under the leadership of Haji Lateef and Mohd Ashraf.
The protesters said that Government should implement the promises made with them and if it failed to do so, they will start a struggle against the Government. “We want the Government to meet our demands through peaceful
negotiations, otherwise will come on streets. Despite several meetings in the past, the Government has failed to implement the promises and threatened that the mega- protests would be held from 23rd to 25th of this month. If the management and the Government remained inactive, strike may turn indefinite”, they added.
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