On the 7th day of their strike, the daily-rated workers of various government departments Sunday held protest demonstrations for regularization of their services.
The strike has affected various essential services. The daily wagers began their ‘pen-down’ strike on 26 October.
The protesting workers today assembled at Press Enclave here under the banner ‘J&K Casual Daily Forum’ and raised pro-justice slogans urging authorities to address their “genuine” demands.
Forum chairman Sajad Parray acknowledge and regretted that people were suffering due to their strike by 61,000 daily rated workers. “But we have no option than to continue our peaceful protests and pen-down strike to wake up the authorities,” he said.
Parray reiterated that some “elements” are “vandalizing” property in public offices to defame their ongoing protests. “We want to make it clear that our struggle for regularization of services is democratic, disciplined and peaceful. We are preparing a list of elements who are trying to defame our peaceful struggle. The list will be made public and a copy will be submitted in LG’s grievance cell with proof,” he said.
“A PHE official filed a fake complaint against five PHE daily wagers. However, we appreciate and hail the impartial investigation by Chadoora Police which found that allegations were baseless,” Parray said.
Parray said the Forum has consistently taken up their demand of regularization with successive governments. “But we were forced to take to the streets as the authorities showed no seriousness in addressing our demands,” he said.
“Our voices have remained unheard for decades now. It is high time the authorities delivered justice to more than 61,000 daily-rated works and their families,” he added.
Parray said most of the daily wagers have crossed upper age limit for government jobs. He urged the government to regularize their services.