Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 15: A massive protest rally was taken out by the PHE daily wagers, ITI trained and CP workers in the winter capital city here today in support of their demands.
A large number of temporary workers of PHE Department from various Divisions and PHE Sub Divisions under the banner of All J&K PHE ITI Trained and CP Workers Association ( Jammu Province), led by its president , Tanveer Hussain and Deepak Gupta (vice president) assembled near Press Club in the morning and held protest there for some time. Then they started their protest rally towards Chief Engineer’s office at B C Road.
The agitating workers were carrying banners and placards in their hands and raising loud slogans in support of their demands. They were demanding their regularization and release of wages of nearly 23,700 PHE workers pending for the last over 35-38 months. They alleged that PHE workers have been denied their wages for the last three years and the concerned minister, bureaucrats and other senior officers are unmoved despite several representations and staging of dharnas by the workers. They said the families of many workers were facing starvation.
The protesting workers when reached at Dogra Chowk, they sat on dharna and disrupted movement of traffic for some time. They were shouting slogans against PHE Minister, Finance Minister, DyCM, Chief Engineer and other officers. The movement of traffic remained disrupted for some time. Then with the intervention of police, the road was cleared.
The protesting workers then reached at Chief Engineer’s office at BC Road and started massive protest. It was followed by day long dharna, Tanveer Hussain, Deepak Gupta (vice president) and general secretary- Subhash Singh addressed the gathering and strongly condemned the attitude of higher authorities. The agitating workers also restricted the movement of Chief Engineer and other senior officers by conducting `gherao’ for some time. Later, a deputation of workers also met the Chief Engineer in his office chamber and discussed the issue.
The Union leaders alleged that despite assurance by the Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu on the floor of the Legislature during January Budget Session in Jammu, regarding regularization of temporary workers, nothing has been done till today. Even the biometric work has not been initiated. The delaying tactics of the Govt have kept the fate of over 23,700 PHE workers engaged after 1994, hanging in balance. Their fate should be decided at the earliest. Many of them have turned over aged, got married and their children are studying in schools now, but they have no money to pay their school fee. They warned to suspend water supply in the region in near future if the Govt kept its attitude so rigid. They held PHE Minister Sham Choudhary and previous PHE Ministers, Sukhnandan Choudhary, Sham Lal Sharma ( Cong) and Taj Mohiuddin (Cong) responsible for their failure to resolve this genuine issue.
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