Govt goes tough on striking employees, 18 booked under ESMO

Gopal Sharma  
JAMMU, Oct 4: Going tough on the striking employees, the Government today booked eighteen (18) employees of  the office of  Regional Transport Office Jammu under ESMO,  while the employees observed pen down strike and held protest demonstrations in different places in the city here.
The Government booked 18 striking employees of  the office of  Regional Transport Office (RTO) under Essential Services Maintenance Ordinance (ESMO) today while Deputy Commissioner Ajit Kumar Sahu, along with other senior officers visited several other offices to monitor the attendance of the employees.
Employees from various Government departments and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) offices observed strike and also held demonstrations in support of their demands on the strike call given by the JCC. The employees in many offices though marked their attendance to avoid Government action, yet they held demonstrations in their respective offices and also struck work. The general public had to suffer in view of the ‘Kaam Chhor Hartal’ announced by the JCC leadership.
The employees held demonstrations in the  Directorate of Agriculture, ITI on Canal Road, RTO Office, JDA, JKPCC complex, Directorate of  School Education, Horticulture complex, Animal & Sheep Husbandry, Excise and Sales Tax, Social Welfare Directorate  and several other offices. Senior JCC leaders including Gafoor Dar, Kulwant Singh, Amrik Singh, Ganesh Khajuria, Moulvi Muneer, Ravinder Singh and others also addressed gathering of employees in several offices. They condemned the attitude of Government for suppressing the employees and gagging  their voice. They alleged that Government has failed to honour its commitment and agreement and was harassing the employees by adopting oppressive measures. They appealed the employees to remain united and observe complete pen down strike tomorrow.
The action against 18 employees of  the RTO office Jammu under ESMO, was taken on the directions of Dy Commissioner Jammu Ajit Kumar Sahu. Receiving calls from the general public that employees were not working and many people were suffering at the office,  the DC paid surprise visit to this office and found some employees not working. He directed the concerned  Trikuta Nagar Police Station to book these employees under ESMO. Accordingly, an FIR was registered against them.
Employees from the RTO office, Jammu booked under ESMO are: Krishan Lal- Head Asstt, Dimple Choudhary, Mohd Shafi, Monika Kohli, Hamid Manhas, Nitin Pandoh, Alam Din, Rahul Bakshi, Arvind Raina- all Senior Assistants, Hamid Choudhary-Accountant,  Jai Gopal and Ashish Manhas- Accounts Assistants,  Hafiz-ul-Rehman,  Manoj Nargotra and Vikramjeet Mengi-Junior Assistants, Girdhari Lal – MVTA  and Kuldip Raj orderly. The DC said that he along with his team would monitor attendance in Govt offices  even tomorrow as per already issued directions from the  Government and those resorting to strike, causing inconvenience to the public will be booked under law.
Meanwhile, senior JCC leaders condemned the action of Government and alleged that  employees were being harassed by the Government. They claimed that the  employees are staging protest democratically but NC-led Government was using force on them. They also extended gratitude to some political parties for their intervention and mounting pressure on the Government for the reddressal of  their  demands.
Government Employees & Workers Federation led by Kulwant Singh,  All J&K Agriculture Employees Association Jammu province led by Amrik Singh and Uttam Sharma, School Education Employees Coordination Committee  led by Ganesh Khajuria, N S Jamwal and others, strongly condemned the attitude of Government  and issued appeal to the employees to stay united. They also demanded release of  all the arrested employees.