3 day Sectt Gherao, one day Raj Bhawan march
Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, May 27: The Jammu and Kashmir State Employees Joint Consultative Committee, JCC, today suffered a major set back when one of its major factions led by Ram Kumar Sharma pulled out of it following serious differences with rest of the members over future protest programme of the Government employees that was announced today.
The JCC members from Employees Joint Action Committee-Khursheed (EJAC-K), Employees Joint Action Committee-Qayoom (EJAC-Q) and Jammu and Kashmir National Trade Union Front (JKNTUF) today called for 3 day Secretariat gherao programme beginning from June 13 and one day general strike on June 16 and on that day employees have been asked to march towards Srinagar wherefrom a march to Raj Bhawan will be carried out.
The decision was taken in JCC meeting a day after the senior JCC leaders were released last night. Over 300 employees and their leaders were arrested during their 3 day agitation last week.
The Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC-R) headed by Ram Kumar Sharma told Excelsior that his faction is not with the next phase of agitation as was announced by the JCC today. He accused other factions of softening their stand and said his faction will chalk out their programme soon.
Kumar announced parting ways with the JCC following differences over the next phase of agitation. The differences between EJAC-R and other JCC constituents came to the fore during a meeting today when the latter as per Kumar reversed its decision of four day strike programme. “All the four factions of the employees took a joint decision on Saturday on future programme but today it was reversed”, he alleged.
Talking to Excelsior, EJAC-R President, Kumar said that there is no justification for secretariat gherao programme, since the Government has not done anything after the previous programmes of secretariat gherao. He accused the leaders of EJAC-K, EJAC-Q and JKNTUF of changing the agenda of today’s meeting.
“We don’t subscribe to the programme given by the JCC leaders today and we have decided to part ways with the JCC. Today’s meeting was scheduled to fix the dates of the next round of strikes. Instead of adopting a tough stand, the JCC leaders softened their stand and decided to adopt a modest approach of the agitation programme,” said Sharma.
He said that 12 office bearers of EJAC-K, EJAC-Q, EJAC-R and JKNTUF took the decision of four day strike programme during the Saturday’s meeting. He said the finalization of dates was not done as the top leadership of the JCC was in detention and they were authorized to take a final call as far as dates are concerned.
“Two meetings were held on Saturday and today’s meeting was held to finalize the dates of the strikes. As the JCC constituents softened their stand we came out of the meeting and as such we are not a part of the next phase of agitation as announced by JCC. We would sit and chalk out the future course of action,” said Sharma.
EJAC-R general secretary, Rafiq Ahmad Khanyari said that there was no harm in giving the agitation a breather. He said there was no need for JCC to announce a fresh phase of agitation adding that 15 days time could have been given to the Government to concede the demands of the Government employees.
“The secretariat gherao programme as announced by JCC is totally uncalled for and we don’t subscribe to it. As the top leadership of JCC was set free yesterday un-conditionally it would have been prudent to wait and give some time to the Government for fulfilling the demands of the employees,” said Rafiq.
Purshottam Sharma, General Secretary, Central Non-Gazetted Electrical Employees Union (CNGEEU) said that there is no justification for JCC to revert to gherao programmes when the State Government has been shaken by the three day strike programme of May 24 to May 26.
Meanwhile, EJAC-K President and senior JCC leader, Mohammad Khursheed Alam while addressing a press conference here said that he would lead a protest demonstration of the Government employees outside the civil secretariat on June 13. He said JCC leaders Abdul Qayoom Wani and Mohammad Gafoor Dar would also lead protest demonstrations outside the civil secretariat on June 14 and June 15 respectively.
“We are giving a time-frame of 17 days to the state government to fulfill our demands. On June 16 the employees would observe a one day strike and the employees would march towards Srinagar. We would then march towards Raj Bhawan in support of our demands in case those are not met by then,” said Khursheed.
Responding to Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar’s assertion that the employees strike is un-provoked and un-justified, Khursheed said that Government has failed to implement the agreement reached with the JCC leaders on September 15 last year.
He said the Government has also failed to meet the deadline of March 31, 2012 set for taking a final decision on the recommendations given by the committee formed to examine the various demands of the Government employees. He said the decision to defer the strike has also been taken in view of the losses suffered by the students due to lock out in Government educational institutions.
JCC leader and EJAC-Q President, Abdul Qayoom Wani said that agitation strategy has been modified and it is due to this reason that the next phase would concentrate more on Secretariat gherao than strikes. He expressed his gratitude to the employees for making the three day programme of May 24 to May 26 a success.
“It is not necessary to carry out strikes every time and the strategy can be modified according to the situation. We don’t want confrontation with the State Government and as such we are giving some time for them to fulfill the genuine demands of the government employees,” said Qayoom.
JCC leader and JKNTUF President, Mohammad Gafoor Dar said that the Government should immediately take a decision on the demands of the Government. He said the daily wagers and the left over daily wagers of 1994 should be regularized without any further delay.
“Daily wagers and left over daily wagers working in PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control and Forest department should be regularized. The other demands too should be fulfilled so that there is no further confrontation with the employees and the things move in a smooth manner,” said Gafoor.
EJAC (Q) leader and General Secretary of ITI employees Union, Mohammad Abbas, said that the State Government should not waste more time and fulfill the demands of the Government employees. He expressed his gratitude to the employees of Technical Education department for observing three day strike from May 24 to May 26.
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