Demanding release of withheld wages, scores of causal labourers engaged by Tourism Department Tuesday continued their protests for the sixth consecutive day.
The causal labourers – both male and female – assembled atthe lawns of Tourism Department here under the banner of Kashmir Tourism CasualLabourers Union and demanded release oftheir wages. They accused authorities of ignoring their plight.
Protestors carried placards and banners. As per agitatinglabourers, they have not been paid wages since 2014.
According to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) websiteof the tourism department, a total of 342 casual labourers are registered butthe protestors alleged that only 14 of them get the wages.
“We have not been paid since 2014. We have been deliveringour official duties with sincerity and honesty. Due to withholding of wages,the education of our wards has immensely suffered as we can’t pay their schoolfee,” said Fayaz Ahmad, president of the union.
He added that the wards of the some of the casual labourershave been expelled from the schools due to non-payment of tuition fee.
“You can imagine the plight f a person who has not been paidremuneration and is living on the barrowings from others. We borrow to survive,to meet medical expenses of aged-parents and to meet basic needs of life,” hesaid.
The protestors said that the department has sufficient fundsbut didn’t pay them.
They said that they have taken up their grievance withconcerned authorities time and again but that their pleas had fallen on deafears.
“We are suffering alot but the department is in no mood to redress our problems. The departmentspends huge amount on festivals and other recreational activities but isreluctant to release pending wages of poor labourers,” the protesters said.
They appealed to the Governor Satya Pal Malik to intervenepersonally and direct concerned authorities to release all their pending wagesforthwith.