Dozen injured in police lathicharge in Srinagar
Fayaz Bukhari/
Gopal Sharma
SRINAGAR/JAMMU, June 14: At least a dozen employees were injured and nearly one hundred (100) detained, after the police resorted to lathi-charge and used water cannons on hundreds of employees moving towards civil secretariat to conduct its ‘Gherao’ in Srinagar while employees held protest demonstrations at various district headquarters in support of their pending demands in the State today.
Over 100 State Government employees were detained as police intercepted them and used force to prevent their march to Civil Secretariat as part of their programme on the second consecutive day today.
A large number of Government employees from Education, Public Works, Power Development Department, Health, Technical Education, Irrigation, Agriculture department besides some PSUs, led by Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC-Q) president, Abdul Qayoom Wani, gathered outside Khalsa School, near Exhibition this morning.
As the employees came out on the main road to march towards Civil Secretariat, the police men deployed there intercepted them resulting in clashes between employees and the police.
Police charged batons on the protesting employees and used coloured water cannons to disperse them. Police had deployed one of the water cannons on the fly-over in Jahangir Chowk that proved to be effective against the protesting employees.
Several employees were injured in the baton charging of the employees and they were removed to hospital for treatment. Over 100 employees, mostly their leaders were detained by the police and they were lodged in different police stations of the city.
Those who were detained include senior JCC leader Abdul Qayoom Wani, Ejaz Trali, Farooq Ahmed Trali, Khursheed Banday, Manzoor Pampori, Khursheed Ahamd Bhat, Abdul Bari, Ishtiaq Tak, Dr Manzoor.
The ding dong battle continued for around two hours during which the traffic was disrupted in the area. This resulted in huge traffic jams. Shopkeepers closed their shops in the area to avoid damage to their merchandise.
The Government employees are demanding enhancement of the retirement age to 60 from the existing 58 years, regularisation of daily-wagers engaged after 1994 and removal of pay anomalies in the clerical cadre, besides budgetary support for Public Sector Undertakings.
Last month, the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), spearheading the State Government employees’ agitation had announced a four-day protest that began yesterday.
As part of the protest programme, senior JCC leader Gafoor Dar will lead a similar protest march to Civil Secretariat tomorrow. And the day after employees are marching to Rajbhawan to seek Governor N N Vohra’s intervention for the fulfillment of their agreement with the Government.
The EJAC (Q) president, Abdul Qayoom Wani, told Excelsior that employees will continue their agitation till the Government implements its agreement which it had made it with the Government employees.
Wani said that Government used “brute force” against the employees today by charging batons on them and using coloured water cannons. He said that employees will intensify their agitation and the decision will be taken in JCC meeting that will be held on June 19. He said some of the employees were beaten up inside Karan Nagar police Station which is unfortunate. He said Farooq Trali and four others were seriously injured.
The Government employees on the second consecutive day of their agitational programme held protests at their respective offices under the banner of EJAC (Q/K) in Jammu and several district headquarters in the region today. The employees held demonstrations for some time and also sat on dharna in some of the offices in the winter capital. The normal work was also affected due to their protest. Some senior EJAC leaders were leading the protest.
Reports from Doda, Udhampur, Ramban, Kishtwar, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri and Poonch said that employees held protests in support of their demands. Various employees’ bodies also condemned the police lathi-charge on employees in Srinagar and also inside Karan Nagar Police Station. They warned that such incidents of beating employees inside Thanas should not be repeated in future.
Meanwhile, ITI employees Union general secretary and senor EJAC (Q) leader, Mohammad Abbas, strongly condemned the use of force against the employees. He said that use force and other tactics used by the government against employees are not going to cow down the striking employees. “Our demand is genuine as Government has made an agreement with us and we just want its implementation”, he added.
CPI (M) state secretary and president CITU, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (MLA) has strongly condemned police action on employees who were protesting against Government apathy. “The right to organize voluntary protests is an inalienable right of the people in a democratic polity and if such rights are stifled it will only encourage the forces which stand for autocracy and violence”, he added.
Tarigami stressed upon the Government to avoid confrontation and find out an amicable solution to the issues through negotiations with the representatives of employees unions and associations. He also appealed the trade union leaders to give up the confrontation and come to the table for negotiations to put forward their legitimate demands.
Follow our WhatsApp channel