Excelsior Correspondent
RAMNAGAR, Mar 23: PHE employees under the banner of Water Works (PHE) Employees Association held a strong protest rally here under the chairmanship of Som Nath, Senior Vice President of the Association for Jammu province.
Employees drawn from Basantgarh, Majodi, Kulwanta, Dahari, Chowki, Kaghote, Majalta, Mansar and other far flung areas participated in the rally and shouted slogans in support of their long pending genuine demands.
While addressing Som Nath said that the employees have not been paid their wages for the past over two years as a result of which they are starving and the Government has to see how long they can work free of cost. He said the PHE employees were fed up with the casual attitude of the higher authorities of the PHE Department. He said the employees have been suffering and agitating since long and now they may adopt some other means hence this issue should be discussed in current Assembly session for welfare of the poor workers. He appealed the Minister concerned to take notice of the deplorable conditions of these workers and take necessary action immediately.
The demands raised in the rally pertained to Release of pending wages for 24 to 28 months; Implementation of Minimum Wages Act; Regularization of daily wagers; Meeting shortage of staff to effectively man the water supply schemes; Change of designation as per nature of job being performed by them; Release of wages to persons engaged in lieu of land; and Enhancement of wages to Rs 350 per day.
Others who spoke in the rally were Vijay Sharma (district general secretary), Suraj Parkash, Makhan Chand, Subash Chander, Rajinder Kumar, Krishan Chand, Shiv Lal, Sanjay Kumar, Om Parkash, Kulwant Singh, Rattan Chand, Hans Raj and Prem Nath.