Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 16: Daily rated workers from various departments including ITI and Non-ITI, held a strong protest demonstration outside the office of Divisional Commissioner at Rail Head complex here today.
A large number of daily rated workers from PHE, Irrigation, PDD, JDA, JKPCC, Agriculture and other departments, under the banner of J&K All Department ITI & Non-ITI Daily Rated Workers United Front (affiliated with NTUF), assembled near Panama Chowk and from there they moved towards Divisional Commissioner’s office in the shape of a grand rally.
Despite rain a large number of workers from Kathua, Samba, Jammu, R S Pura, Bishnah, Akhnoor, Udhampur, Reasi and parts of Rajouri participated in this protest programme. They were shouting slogans in support of their demands. They were demanding skilled rate of Rs 225 per day wages for ITI trained and Rs 175 per day for the non-ITI workers, regularization of policy for all ITI and non-ITI daily rated casual labourers /workers engaged after 1994 and release of pending wages of daily rated workers engaged in various divisions of Jammu province, especially in Doda, Rajouri and Jammu.
Several senior trade union leaders including Mohd Gafoor Dar, president NTUF (J&K) and chairman of United Front of DRWs, Tanveer Hussain, Subash Chander, Chandan Singh, Manish Abrol, Deepak Gupta and others addressed the gathering and strongly condemned the Government for not releasing their pending wages and taking a decision about their fate. They demanded that workers engaged after 1994 should also be regularized and a uniform policy be framed for it. Despite written agreement with JCC, the Government has failed to frame a policy, they maintained.
After staging protest demonstration for more than two hours, a delegation of protesting workers led by Mr Dar submitted a memorandum to the Divisional Commissioner, projecting workers’ demands. They resolved to intensify their protest programme at all the district headquarters if the Government failed to take a decision about their fate shortly.
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